Children under six months old may be banned from council swimming pools following a major health scare which left 28 people sick.

The potential baby ban follows the closure of Temple Cowley Pool last month after higher than normal levels of bacteria and traces of the micro-organism cryptosporidiosis were found.

Now councillors are to hear recommendations that children under six months old should not be encouraged to swim.

Children wearing nappies will also not be allowed in the water.

Oxford City Council is also to consider closing down pools immediately for at least 12 hours after faecal contamination is discovered. In a report to be heard next week, pool water treatment specialist Terry Price will tell how a "breakthrough" resulted in additional recognised cases of cryptosporidiosis at Temple Cowley.

He says: "This is of concern for the future management of the pools, particularly after unrecognised faecal and recognised faecal incidents, as there is a common water treatment system.

"The history of the pools' backwashing, chemical levels, operational procedures and other matters will be the subject of a confidential in-depth evaluation in the immediate future to enable a comprehensive report to be produced in order to enable the national guidelines to be validated or amended." He also points to other problems at the pool - which reopened last week - and adds: "In the Temple Cowley Pools, the position of the alum injection point, pipe layout and head space in the filter is totally inadequate to enable the coagulation system to be effective."

The council currently only allows babies over the age of three months to use pools.

The council's leisure services committee will also discuss a campaign to make the public more aware of hygiene in swimming pools when they meet on Monday (29/11).

One of the ideas is a leaflet called Help Us Keep Your Pool Safe which reads: "Please don't be embarrassed, inform pool staff immediately if your child has an accident in the pool. We recommend the use of special baby swimming trunks for children requiring nappies." Once the investigation into the outbreak is finalised, a report on the design and operation of council pools and the pool treatment and filtration plant at Temple Cowley will be heard by the committee.

Story date: Wednesday 24 November

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