Stay water-safe this summer

IF your swimming pool, spa or dam will be a busy backyard hub this season, Central Highlands Water is encouraging residents to get their water tested.

The CHW laboratory has a National Association of Testing Authorities accreditation, and a team of chemists and microbiologists to analyse water samples and ensure a pool, spa or swimming hole is safe, compliant and ready for action.

Naturally occurring microorganisms that can contaminate pools, spas or dam water have the potential to cause serious illness and disease if they’re not identified. Children, those who are immunocompromised and the elderly are most at risk.

Contact [email protected] to make a testing enquiry.

Whether a home pool or spa is above ground, indoor, a bathing or wading pool, or relocatable, it is also compulsory in Victoria for residents to register it with their local government if it can hold more than 30 centimetres of water.

Residents must also register their safety barrier compliance, or secure a compliance certificate by arranging an appointment with a qualified inspector.

Visit ballarat.vic.gov.au/property/building/pools-and-spas-safety or goldenplains.vic.gov.au/residents/my-home/building/swimming-pools-and-spas to register pools.

Safety barriers are a compulsory measure to prevent infants and young children from drowning.

One-component relocatable pools needing no assembly, like a small, inflatable padding pool, do not need a barrier around them.

To view pool self-assessment tools, checklists, and requirements head to vba.vic.gov.au/consumers/swimming-pools.

State Government initiative, Play it Safe By the Water reminds parents and guardians to supervise children around water.

It can take only 20 seconds for a toddler to drown, whether they’re in the bath, at the pool, the beach, by a river or creek. The initiative said Victorian men are four times more likely to drown than women.

All adults should be aware and realistic about their swimming ability, avoid risky water environments, never swim alone or with alcohol in their system, and swim between the red and yellow flags at the beach.