In August, the NSW Government quietly released a revised and updated guidance for operators, managers and regulators of public swimming pools and spa pools on managing water quality and meeting the requirements of the NSW Public Health Act 2010 and Public Health Regulation 2022.
This 2026 guideline supersedes the previous 2013 version. SPASA was involved in the consultation and revision process, along with many other contributors who are listed in the guidelines document.
These guidelines assist organisations and operators of public swimming pools and spa pools to manage water quality to protect public health according to relevant regulatory frameworks. It also provides advice to local and state government environmental health officers to help fulfil their regulatory and advisory roles regarding water quality in public swimming pools and spa pools.
Although these guidelines may be useful for domestic swimming and spa pools, these pools are not intentionally or specifically covered by the guide, and readers are encouraged to contact a local pool shop, or pool and spa service technicians.
The Act defines a public swimming pool or spa pool to be any structure that is used or intended to be used for human bathing, swimming, or diving to which the public is admitted, whether free of charge, on payment of a fee or otherwise. This includes pools:
to which the public is admitted as an entitlement of membership of a club
provided at a workplace for the use of employees
provided at a hotel, motel or guest house or at holiday units, or similar facility, for the use of guests
provided at a school or hospital
situated at private residential premises used for commercial purposes.
A public spa pool also includes any structure (other than a swimming pool) that holds more than 680 litres of water, is used, or intended to be used for human bathing and has facilities for injecting jets of water or air into the water.
Water play parks and other recreational aquatic structures, including water slides and any interactive water feature or fountain that is intended to be bathed in for recreational purposes, are not declared to be a public swimming pool or spa pool if they use a public water supply, do not use a recirculation system and do not store water.
For more information, members should download and read the guidelines which are available from the NSW Health website: click here.
A direct link to the PDF is available: click here.