With daily swimming classes being much in demand among the children in the city during their summer vacations, the quality of water in various pools in the city has become a concern.
At least 15 children who frequent various pools in the city are reported to have been affected with throat infection and fever in the past few days, although it has not yet been established whether the water quality in the pool has anything to do with it.
More than 10 children who have been taking swimming lessons from the Konathukulangara pool in PTP Nagar were reportedly affected with various diseases including fever, vomiting and throat infection.
From the Albatros pool attached to the Chandrasekharan Nair stadium sports complex, around six children have been taken ill.
According to Sandhya Prajin, a city resident, both her son and daughter who have been frequenting the Albatros pool are admitted at a hospital.
For testing
“Both of them, aged 13 and 19, have been in hospital for the past four days with fever and throat infection. The temperature has not come down much. The doctors have not yet ascertained the reason for it, but since four others from the same pool are in the hospital, they suspect the water to be a cause. We have contacted the pool authorities, who said that they have sent the water for testing,” she says.
The Albatros pool, the State’s first chlorine-free pool, was closed for children for the past one week, after the cases were reported. The pool authorities say that they carry out regular cleaning in the pool, and the diseases might have spread due to children with infections entering the pool.“
We take extreme care in the cleanliness aspect. When this issue was reported, the entire kids’ pool was drained off and cleaned up.
The main pool is also filtered regularly. The cleaning staff also check the pH value of water, which was found to be normal. We have anyway sent water samples to the Kerala Water Authority for a proper check.The results are awaited. The probable cause is that someone with infection would have entered the pool, from whom it spread to others,” said Subhah George, administrator of the sports complex.
In the case of the Konathukulangara pool, the pool authorities said that most of the children who were reported ill last week have now returned to the pool.
Natural pond
“It is a natural pond. So the water recirculates naturally. We do apply chlorine and clean it. A proper cleaning by draining the entire pool is done annually,” said the pool manager.
