Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    WATER quality in 24 of 224 licensed swimming pools in Shenzhen failed to meet sanitation standards in the latest round of inspections, city health officials said Thursday. Ten of the swimming pools are in well-known hotels.

    The hotels include the Novotel Watergate Shenzhen, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Shenzhen, Sheraton Shenzhen Futian Hotel in Futian District, Hilton Shenzhen Shekou Nanhai in Nanshan District and the Sheraton Dameisha Resort Hotel in Yantian District.

    The hotels failed to comply with sanitation indexes including total bacteria count and chlorine levels.

    Nine others that failed the tests are in residential communities that are mostly located in Longgang District. They failed to comply with sanitation indexes including total bacteria count and proper chlorine levels, among other measures.

    The swimming pool in Bao’an District’s Xin’an Park also failed the test for proper chlorine levels.

    Residents can check the list of swimming pools that fail the hygiene inspection by logging on to sz.gov.cn (Chinese language).

    The city has more than 600 licensed swimming pools.

    Last month, the health authority conducted its first water quality inspections this year on 272 of the pools and found that 25 failed to meet sanitation standards.

    Eleven of the 25 swimming pools that failed were in residential areas and some were in hotels.

    Operators of all the pools that failed have been given administrative penalties and ordered to address the problems, the authority said.

    The health authority says there are three ways to choose swimming pools with high hygiene standards.

    Swimmers should check the rating of the pool, look for daily water quality readings and make sure there is only a slight smell of chlorine when entering the pool area.

    The rating of the pool is usually shown on a plate given by the city authorities and hung somewhere near the entrance to the pool, said Feng Sujuan, an inspector with the city’s health supervision bureau.

    “There are three levels, from A to C, and every licensed swimming pool has such a plate,” Feng said.

    “In addition, swimmers can judge a pool on whether or not it has a sign showing daily water quality readings.”