Newington College NSW

CHEMTROL controllers help school maintain stringent hygiene standards and keep students safe 

Client: Newington College

Facility: School swimming pool

Equipment: PC5000 Programmable Controller

With a busy school program, including sports, swimming squads and learn to swim lessons, the bather load is high at Sydney’s inner city Newington College. This makes it critical for the indoor, heated pool at the school to maintain stringent hygiene levels so students are kept safe during all these activities. 

With this in mind, Ryan Moar, the schools Aquatic director, approached us with a view to providing a solution that could sanitise it, keeping it clean and free of bacteria, algae and enabling precise dosing and monitoring of the pool. 

But first let’s touch on the obligations public facilities have with regard to water sanitation and control of microbiological pathogens. 

Public health risk associated with public swimming and spa pools

Swimming pools used by the public are covered by the Public Health Act 2010 and Public Health Regulation 2012, which is the legislation that controls the public health risk associated with public swimming and spa pools. It is a mandatory requirement prescribed under the Public Health Regulations in NSW that public swimming pools and spas must not be used unless the water in the pool is disinfected in such a way as to minimise the transmission of disease to the other users of the pool. The most common sanitisers or disinfectants used are chlorine, bromine, ozone and ionizers.

Newington College indoor, heated swimming pool

What aquatic facilities do you have at the school, in terms of capacity?

The school has an indoor, heated, 8 lane, 25m swimming pool.  The depth of the pool ranges from 1.8m – 2.4m. There is an attached ‘splash-out’ area ideal from teaching learn to swim (with approximate dimensions of 12m x 4m x 1.2m). Overall the water volume of our pool is 925k litres.

How many people use the facilities?

There are over 1,500 students and staff on campus. Most members of the school community are infrequent users. However, the aquatics program comprises of 15 water polo teams, 4 squad levels, learn to swim program – all which ensure the pool bather load is high during the school terms, particularly before and after classes. The pool is also hired out commercially to a number of water polo clubs which conduct training sessions in our pool five nights per week. Special activities arranged by the school’s physical education department for students from K – 12 regularly utilise the pool during school hours. Outdoor education programs conduct Bronze Medallion courses, water safety and even scuba diving lessons in the facility.

Why is precise dosing and monitoring so important for your facility?

Precise dosing and monitoring of the pool is important in order to be confident that strict hygiene levels are adhered to and students are safe. The look, feel and temperature of the water are also important to us and the new monitoring system helps to keep levels in check to ensure everything is balanced all of the time.

Water polo at the Newington College pool

What is the function of the controllers?

The controllers allow us to monitor the pool from a remote location which is something we haven’t been able to do in the past. The controllers also automatically respond to changes in the pool water pH levels dosing when required with Co2.

” The controllers allow us to monitor the pool from a remote location which is something we haven’t been able to do in the past “

Why did you choose CHEMTROL controllers?

Chemtrol controllers were recommended to us by our technical service sub-contractors, who provide high end engineering services to over 150 commercial water treatment clients Australia-wide. 

Did they help you overcome a specific problem?

Yes, the controllers have significantly improved our systems of monitoring and updating our processes. We now have much more accurate information about what is going on in the water then we had before.

” We now have much more accurate information about what is going on in the pool water then we had before “

What features do you most appreciate about the controllers?

Automatic control of pH and hopefully other automated dosing to be added in the future.  Also, the online platform and the ability to check readings from any remote location

What is your overall experience of Chemtrol and the installation process?

We are very appreciative of the support and happy with the way the controller has improved our systems thus far. And, we’ve only utilised minimal features. Hopefully we can make use of more in the future.

CHEMTROL® PC5000 control system installed on site

PC5100 Controller

The PC5000 programmable control system includes a complete automatic control of water chemistry. Free chlorine or bromine with pH, ORP, TDS and temperature monitoring, water balance, water saturation and heating, with full remote duplex operation capability. It also has a user-friendly main screen display that enables you to monitor and control all the process functions at a glance and respond to prevailing conditions.

Newington College is a multi-campus independent, co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, located in Stanmore. The school currently caters for approximately 1,800 students from Year K to Year 12.

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