Our community pool is trying to ban small children from swimming in our pool if they are wearing diapers. The pool administrators say that chemicals in and the composition of diapers, not urine or even fecal matter cause “mustard algae” which results in the pool having to be drained and cleaned with expensive chemicals. I asked them about “swimmers”, diapers especially made for pools, without the normal absorbent composition. They said it was the same thing and banned children with them as well. They stated that a state health inspector had told them the same thing. However there is no evidence in any state regulation that addresses this issue. Is this true?

Question:

Our community pool is trying to ban small children from swimming in our pool if they are wearing diapers. The pool administrators say that chemicals in and the composition of diapers, not urine or even fecal matter cause "mustard algae" which results in the pool having to be drained and cleaned with expensive chemicals. I asked them about "swimmers", diapers especially made for pools, without the normal absorbent composition. They said it was the same thing and banned children with them as well. They stated that a state health inspector had told them the same thing. However there is no evidence in any state regulation that addresses this issue. Is this true?

Answer:

Even if the swim diapers do contribute to formation of mustard algae, proper maintenance and sanitizer levels should prevent any issues from normal usage.