Drinking water hygiene in sports facilities

Did you know that there are about 90,000 sports clubs in Germany? According to the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), there are 180,000 club-owned sports facilities, including about 11,000 sports halls, 18,000 sports fields, 49,000 tennis courts and 38,400 other sports facilities. In addition, there are about 9,500 fitness studios and many other public sports facilities. This situation can certainly be transferred to other countries.

The majority of these sports facilities are equipped with sanitary facilities and changing rooms/showers that are used more or less regularly. This is problematic with regard to drinking water hygiene, because pathogens such as legionella can develop in facilities that are used irregularly, which can endanger athletes.

Legionella is a natural constituent of drinking water and multiplies rapidly under the right conditions, such as stagnant water or temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius in the often widely branched and possibly older piping system of sports facilities. With water droplets or steam, they enter the lungs of humans, for example when showering or in a steam bath, where they can lead to infection with Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia. This primarily affects elderly or immunocompromised people, but even strained and heated bodies of athletes can easily become infected.

The installation of the patented Seccua ultrafiltration systems at the house water inlet provides a remedy. This is because the high-tech membrane of the filter from medical technology acts like a firewall and keeps legionella and other pathogens almost completely out. Up to 99.99 percent of all viruses and up to 99.99999 percent of all bacteria, parasites and other microorganisms are retained.

If you are interested in this topic, you can find a case study on legionella prevention in sports facilities and gyms here – Case Study sport facilities