Take a look under the hood of the swimming pool at the Mental Rehabilitation Centre

27. 2. 2024

The Mental Rehabilitation Centre includes a swimming pool. It is a place where not only inpatients but also employees can go to relax. See how the technology works to keep the water nice and clean and at a comfortable temperature.

The pool area, where the sauna is also located, is entered through a changing room with showers and toilets separated for men and women. Everywhere you will find floors fitted with easy-to-wash tiles with non-slip finish.

The pool itself is no small thing. The water surface occupies 136 square metres with a length of 15.5 metres and a depth of 1.3 metres. The pool thus holds 176 cubic metres of water. For optimal comfort, the maximum number of bathers is set at 20 people at a time.

To keep the water clean and pleasantly warm, technologies are hidden in the underground part of the machine room located next to the pool. The automated purification process begins in the 10 cubic metre storage tanks, where the pool water is mixed with the incoming water from the mains as required. It is then pushed by pumps through large sand filters with a cleaning capacity of 80 cubic metres per hour. This means that the entire pool is recirculated in two hours and ten minutes.

From the filters, the water flows through a UV lamp chamber where the ultraviolet light has the ability to disrupt the viability of bacteria, viruses, fungi and algae that may be present in the water. From here, the water continues to the heat exchanger and is heated to a comfortable 28°C.

The next step in the purification process is the automatic dosing of two basic pool water treatment chemicals. A low-percentage sodium hypochlorite solution reliably kills other possible residues of micro-organisms and moulds. And because it is strongly alkaline, a low-percent sulphuric acid solution is also used to adjust the acidity to a neutral value (pH 7). Both are regulated by an automatically controlled Ospa unit.

The last cleaning stage is an ozone generator, a gas which, due to its high reactivity, is a powerful environmental oxidising agent. Ozone is guaranteed to combat any last remnants of unwanted micro-organisms, so that the water returns to the pool nice and clean.

The pool attendant must take water samples from the pool to test the water quality on a daily basis. In addition, the water is also sampled once every 14 days for the needs of the Regional Sanitary Station to confirm that the water meets strict hygiene standards. During operation, all parts of the system are continuously serviced and thoroughly cleaned. This prevents the build-up of bacteria, especially legionella. The pool is completely drained and sanitised once a year.