Unspoilt bathing pleasure with the aid of optimum water treatment: interbad 2018 shows the latest developments.


For many people, bathing, splashing and swimming are a natural part of any holiday, sporting or leisure experience. In Germany alone, according to estimates from the German Association for the Recreational and Medicinal Bath Industry in Essen, the number of swimming pool visits is around 300 to 400 million each year. In Spain, the second most important market for swimming pools and accessories, which showed a growth of 9 per cent in 2017, there are over 1 million private swimming pools.

 

 

Interbad 2018


 

Diverse requirements and expectations


That swimming and bathing pool water should be optically appealing, as clear as possible and free from germs and pathogens, is for many swimmers and pool owners a self-evident expectation. However, many swimming pool users are not aware of the diverse technology and sophisticated cleaning, filtering and disinfection processes that are required in order to keep the swimming pool water as clean and germ-free as possible in all situations. With regard to water treatment, the following trends can currently be observed:


• Bathers and swimmers are ever more demanding with regard to the quality, equipment, operational safety and services in swimming pools and baths.
• Pool operators increasingly use external services and advice in order to meet the constantly increasing requirements of safety and successful operation of baths, and at the same time to be able to concentrate more on their core competences.
• The digitalisation of processes provides more and more extensive aids for the surveillance and operation of swimming pools and spas.
• Thanks to new and continually improving analysis procedures, at the same time the requirements laid down by rules and regulations regarding the water quality, safety technology and energy efficiency of swimming pools, spas and saunas are ever more demanding.

 

Getting the best thanks to networked thinking


On the increasing analysis requirements, the Chairman of the Water Treatment Working Group at figawa and Managing Director of Wassertechnik Wertheim GmbH & Co. KG, Jürgen Elgg, says: "Concerning this sometimes emotional topic, what's now important is an objective analysis and a precise, scientifically sound evaluation of the right consequences in the case of positive findings. In this connection, the activities initiated by figawa to create an improved database for the assessment of useful limit or reference values in the regulations, are in our view important for the operators of pools and baths."

 

The operators of both public and private pools can counter the pressure of costs resulting from the constantly rising prices of energy and water, accompanied by increasingly stringent hygiene requirements, only by means of efficient system technology. "In order to maintain an overview in the jungle of diverse possibilities, it is often preferable not to focus on a single specialist area, but to think and act within an interdisciplinary network," says Stefan Mersmann, water treatment engineer for swimming pools and Managing Director of bt plan GmbH. "Digitalisation offers fascinating opportunities, for example for regulating and improving the treatment quality and energy efficiency of swimming pools, spas and saunas. But even in 20 years' time, there will probably still not be a fully automated pool without qualified and highly motivated employees on location and in a control room," says Mersmann, who is also the Chairman of the Water Treatment Working Group at the German Association for the Recreational and Medicinal Bath Industry. According to Mersmann, the special areas of hydraulics, process technology, chemistry, hygiene and microbiology, all of which must be taken into consideration and have an individual impact on water quality, are too diverse. Here, well trained employees who "thanks to digitalisation can get the best out of a water treatment system" play a decisive role.

 

interbad, the international trade fair for swimming pools, saunas and spas, provides both operators of large public facilities and owners of private pools and spas with a very wide range of product information, expert advice and information on all aspects of swimming pools construction. Famous manufacturers, product developers, facility constructors, special swimming pool architects and engineers, as well as specialist associations and institutions, offer advice and consultation services for various topics and issues. The next interbad will take place from 23 to 26 October 2018 at Messe Stuttgart.

 

Press Release