CMAHC
MAHC Research Agenda
MAHC Research Agenda
The CMAHC works with public health officials, aquatics sector professionals, and academic experts to develop, prioritize, and find funding solutions for research needed to improve the MAHC. The research agenda is prioritized based on the ability to obtain achievable results and quick wins to improve the MAHC. The resulting MAHC research agenda is prioritized into three tiers (short, medium, or long-term) of research projects based on how long it may take to gather results and effect change in the MAHC.
Some CMAHC Committees may identify research gaps that require the Committee to develop a research plan and seek external funding to fill the identified data gap. Under these circumstances, the CMAHC’s indirect cost rate (budgeted indirect costs/budgeted total direct costs) that will be awarded in a grant or contract budget is set at a maximum of 10%. Externally-raised funds administered by the CMAHC are assessed a 3% administrative cost to cover internal CMAHC costs.
Tier 1 (Tier 1 needed to make short term improvements in MAHC)
- Develop guidance to improve indoor air quality at aquatic facilities.
- Is the problem inadequate design, poor operation, poor maintenance, or a mix? Develop a testing protocol to answer this question. This could include 1) mechanisms for designing systems, amount of air replacement, distribution of air, levels of chlorine to use to minimize by-product formation, ability to pull air off surface to scrub or exhaust, 2) determining efficacy of UV/ozone in limiting production, 3) delineating the role of solid phase absorption, 4) developing guidance on whether the amount of fresh outdoor air be increased above ASHRAE 62.1, and 5) developing a simple, implementable test for air testing for tri- and di-chloramine that can be commercialized and used by pool inspectors and staff. (A workgroup is being formed to develop a targeted Request for Proposal (RFP))
- Develop measures and action levels for combined chlorine.
- Develop simple, implementable methods to gather separate measures for organic and inorganic combined chlorines (i.e., measure, treat with UV, and then measure again?).
- Collect data that can be used for setting actionable levels for inorganic combined chlorines (i.e., di- and tri-chloramines) vs. a threshold
- Delineate the potential for using organic chloramines as a measure of the need for water replacement.
- Develop guidance for how pool operators can meet these limits
- Develop guidance and supporting data to enable appropriate sizing of feeders.
- Collect data on chlorine usage in real world pool situations under different environmental and operational conditions to inform development of an effective rate law from which the sizing of chemical feed pumps could then be calculated. Once actual chlorine usage is obtained, a surplus safety factor could be introduced to slightly oversize the feed pump to ensure that the disinfectant dosing amount can be increased to meet increases in demand. Any such sizing requirements need to specify the timeframe within which the pump must be able to satisfy the chlorine dosing required.
- Define the impact of using stabilized chlorine products.
- Collect data on the impact of chlorine stabilizers on disinfection, fecal incident response, and the impact of increasing cyanurate levels on disinfection.
- Collect data on specific pathogens and inactivation rates at differing CYA levels to show the impact of increasing cyanurate levels on inactivation. These data should inform how to set upper stabilizer levels.
- Collect data to better understand the inhibitory effect of cyanuric acid on disinfection including whether there are levels at which cyanuric acid can still protect chlorine from UV degradation while still balancing the inactivation rates for the most common aquatic venue pathogens.
- Collect data on the impact of chlorine stabilizers on disinfection, fecal incident response, and the impact of increasing cyanurate levels on disinfection.
- Develop design and operational guidance that will reduce glare at aquatic facilities.
- Gather information about glare and its impact on limiting visibility below the water surface so that pools can be designed that do not create visibility problems for the lifetime of the facility. Develop 1) a standard, measureable definition for glare, 2) guidance for measuring glare, 3) limits that can be set, 4) an assessment of its impact on staff performance, 5) predictive guidance for designers and operators to engineer glare out of designs, 6) guidance for plan reviewers to determine if the glare based on design documents would be excessive, particularly during certain months of the year.
- Develop safety guidance to determine appropriate water depth for competitive use of diving boards and starting blocks.
- Analyze existing data and identify other databases for diving-specific data
- Analyze national spinal cord injury databases with a focus on aquatics-related incidents (particularly competitive events). If possible, identify specific data on competitive events.
- Analyze existing data and identify other databases for diving-specific data
Tier 2 (Tier 2 data needed to make medium term improvements in MAHC)
- Develop models for measuring gutter/skimmer performance.
- Develop models and protocols for conducting engineering and performance justification and measurements to establish when skimmers or a gutter should be required for a pool. The recirculation system assessment should be able to compare gutters, skimmers, hybrid gutters, etc. Questions of interest include 1) whether the use of skimmers should be limited to pools with surface areas of less than 1,600 square feet (149 m2) and a maximum width of less than 30 feet (9.1 m), and 2) What is the optimal overflow rate for a gutter or skimmer?
- Demonstrate the impact of showering and improved bather hygiene.
- Develop guidance for the impact of showering and for increasing the use of showers. This would include 1) guidance on how to get people to shower as a routine part of aquatics, 2) quantitating the role of showering in reducing waste introduced into the pool, 3) the economic cost and impact of bather waste treatment, 4) quantitating the return on investment from using showers (e.g., impact on disinfectant use), and 5) delineating the impact and role of rinse showers compared to cleansing showers.
- Understand the role of turbidimeters and particle counting in improving water clarity and in pool operation.
- Develop a model to describe particle addition and subsequent removal by the filtration system and the introduction rate of contaminants. This would include developing a correlation between particle size and turbidity or clarity index; this correlation is needed from a practical point of view since regulations are likely to be developed based on turbidity or clarity.
- Role of water clarifiers in reducing particle and pathogen counts and improving water clarity.
- Delineate the role, efficacy, cost, and develop standard use protocols for water clarifiers in reducing particle counts and in Cryptosporidium removal. This should include the impact on filter systems and potential operational changes needed. Are current ANSI standards for acceptance adequate to address pool water clarity and particle removal?
- Determine if current spa temperature limits are too high for certain groups.
- Analyze data on temperature limits for 104oF in spas. This would include spa temperature limits for pregnancy where data suggest that the limits may be too high for the first trimester and for children, particularly children under 5 years of age.
Tier 3 (Tier 3 will not directly affect MAHC code items in the near term but they will yield important data needed to identify and make MAHC improvements in the long term)
- Develop a national data repository for standardized drowning investigation data for incidents at public aquatic facilities.
- Develop a national drowning investigation data repository so that lessons can be learned that could help prevent future deaths. The database, repository, and data collection/incident investigation tool must be coordinated and standardized on a national basis. Improved standardization and collection of drowning surveillance data and subsequent identification of drowning contributing factors would inform needed MAHC changes. This project must support the registry being built at the federal government level to make it most likely that drowning events would be reported by state health departments.
- Define the role of bather load and theoretical peak occupancy.
- Develop a standard way of describing bather load/theoretical peak occupancy. This would include developing and validating standard protocols for assessing bather contamination (e.g., potassium permanganate, total or dissolved organic carbon, ATP).
- Collect cost effectiveness data related to implementing MAHC recommendations.
- This could include cost of secondary disinfection, operator requirements, and design changes. This should include implementation costs but should also include collection of costs for not implementing recommendations or cost savings associated with implementation (e.g., ventilation system corrosion, increased disinfectant use, outbreaks, patron and staff injuries, etc.)
- Delineate the identities, health impact of key combined chlorine species and develop simple/implementable test methods for these key species of combined chlorine products that accumulate in pool water.
- Define relationships between levels of combined chlorine in water and air of aquatic venues and the adverse effects on pool attendees. This should include inhalation, ingestion, and contact routes in order to set actionable levels.
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The Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code
PO Box 3121
Decatur, GA 30031
PO Box 3121
Decatur, GA 30031
Phone: (520) 355-5455
