Fourth International Conference - Swimming Pool and Spa, Porto, Portugal, March 2011

The website of the "Fourth International Conference Swimming Pool and SPA - Research and Development on Health, Air and Water Quality Aspects of the Man-made Recreational Water Environment" is now available at

www.isep.ipp.pt/swimmingconference

The previous International Conferences on Health and Water Quality Aspects of the Man Made Recreational Water Environment showed the great interest in health and water quality subjects related to Pool and Spa and namely microbiological and chemical risks, regulation guidelines, monitoring and management. The first of these biennial conferences was held in Budapest in 2005. The second one took place in Munich in 2007. The third International Pool and Spa Conference, organized by the Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group, was held in London in 2009.

We are now planning the Fourth International Conference Swimming Pool and Spa, to be held in Porto, Portugal, in 2011. This conference will bring together academics, doctors, sport facilities managers, engineers and other professionals, who make research, design, management, and operate and control pools and spa. It is expected that research in occupational health will have an important role in the conference. Nevertheless, given the current state of science and technology, this conference can also mark a turning point in treatment technologies for air and water in swimming pools, combining the need of public health protection in all its aspects with the increasing tendency to reduce water and energy consumption. Special attention will be devoted to technical and sanitary regulations applicable to swimming pools and Spa, since the adjustment of control parameters of water and air quality to specific standards is necessarily related to the scientific developments in the field. We will try to find answers to challenges as important as the right control of disinfection by-products and the protection of those who make the pools and spa their workspaces.