A variety of infectious agents are associated with the recreational use of water, and these can affect the skin, ears, eyes, gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts.
Public Swimming and Spa Pools
Our Environmental Health team works to ensure that swimming pool and spa owners are complying with the statutory requirements outlined in the Tasmanian Recreational Water Quality Guidelines 2007 under the Public Health Act 1997.
View the Recreational Water Quality Guidelines here.
Swimming pools and spas that are open to the public need to be tested for microbiological quality on a monthly basis.
The proprietor is responsible for arranging the collection of pool water samples and submitting these to the Department of Health’s Public Health Laboratory for testing.
Chemical parameters in pools are to be maintained by the proprietor according to those set out in Appendix F of the Recreational Water Quality Guidelines 2007.
The proprietor is required to keep a logbook that records all information relating to water quality.
Swimming Beaches
Windermere Beach is the only designated swimming beach within the Glenorchy City Council area.
The microbiological quality of Windermere Beach is monitored each week by Council’s Environmental Health team from the beginning of December through to the end of March, as part of its statutory obligations outlined in the Tasmanian Recreational Water Quality Guidelines 2007 under the Public Health Act 1997.
The long-term and weekly rating for Windermere Beach can be viewed at the Derwent Estuary Program’s Beach Watch site:
https://www.derwentestuary.org.au/beach-watch
It is recommended that swimmers check beach water quality using the Beach Watch site before they swim.
Swimming in beach water should generally be avoided if the Beach Watch site provides precautionary advice or if there has been recent significant rainfall in the area for up to 3 days previously, as this can wash contaminants from stormwater drains into the water catchment.
In the event of unsafe microbiological levels detected in a water sample, a resample is taken.
A beach closure will occur where the resample returns a non-compliant result.
The beach is only re-opened once water samples return compliant results.