GCHD Environmental Health - Public Swimming Pools & Spas

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The Environmental Health Division licenses and inspects public swimming pools, spas, and special use pools. A public swimming pool is defined as any indoor or outdoor structure, chamber, or tank containing a body of water for swimming, diving, or bathing, but does not include a private residential pool. The rules establish minimum standards, applicable throughout Ohio, for the design, installation, operation, and maintenance of these facilities in order to (1) protect the bathing public from injury, (2) minimize the potential for disease transmission, and (3) provide a safe and healthy aquatic recreational environment.

The swimming pool program is concerned with the overall safety and health of bathers as they relate to the operation of the facility. This includes assurance of water quality, maintenance of filtration and recirculation equipment, the presence of necessary safety equipment and warning signs, lifeguarding requirements, record-keeping, and overall facility operation. Some requirements relative to the design of a pool or spa will be dependent upon the date of construction. All operators are required to keep records of water quality testing results and accidents on a Weekly Operation Report.

Anyone initiating certain renovations to an existing pool or spa or the construction of a new pool or spa is required to submit plans or a notification report to the Ohio Department of Health for approval.