Hygiene in pool premises

Public pool facilities

In addition to swimming halls and outdoor swimming pools, Helsinki has other public pool facilities as well. These include, among others, the pool facilities of rehabilitation centres, sports centres, hotels and schools. There are altogether approximately 60 public pool facilities in Helsinki, and they include some 120 swimming pools.

The Environmental Services monitor all public pool facilities. We perform inspections at pool facilities and monitor the quality of pool water. Entrepreneurs must submit a notification of public pool facilities in accordance with the Health Protection Act.

Quality of swimming pool water

We monitor the quality of pool water with regular water sampling. Water samples are collected at least four times a year. In the largest swimming halls, water samples are collected every other week. More than 1,000 pool water samples are collected annually in Helsinki.

The quality of pool water in Helsinki is good. In 2019–2020, more than 99 % of the pool water samples collected were good in terms of their microbiological quality and 88 % of them met all quality requirements.

Surface hygiene of swimming pool facilities

The maintainer of swimming pool and sanitary facilities must observe good surface hygiene, or cleanliness of the surfaces of the facility, both sensorily and with the help of samples. Samples can be collected and their results read independently with various quick methods.

In 2017–2019, the Environmental Health Unit carried out a project related to the surface hygiene of swimming pool and sanitary facilities. The sampling locations included 26 different swimming halls and other public swimming pool facilities in Helsinki. Based on the 226 samples taken during the project, the hygiene of swimming pool and sanitary facilities was not at the desired level and surface hygiene was deteriorated in more than half (59 %) of all of the samples.

Surface hygiene of facilities can be improved, among other things, by measures related to the premises, cleaning planning, cleaning practices, cleaner competence and ensuring the cleaning results by sampling.

Pools that are under the responsibility of the maintainer

Pools that are under the responsibility of the maintainer are not covered by regular monitoring. In this case, the pool maintainer has a special responsibility over the pool’s hygiene and water quality. Pools that are under the maintainer’s responsibility include, among others, outdoor hot tubs, paddling pools and private pools of housing companies.

When needed, we also provide guidance to their maintainers. There are also specific hygiene instructions for paddling pools and outdoor hot tubs.