Idaho public pools ditch state health inspections by July

BOISE, Idaho — Local pools across Idaho will no longer be required to undergo state health inspections starting July 1, following the passage of House Bill 202. 

The measure is a 21-page cleanup bill by lawmakers, eliminating old requirements and authorities of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare(IDHW). Additionally, it removed the department’s oversight of public swimming pools. 

“I’m not sure they all realize the significance of how this will potentially impact public health into the future,” said Central District Health (CDH) Director Russ Duke.

IDHW creates the rules for health inspections of public pools, and local health districts, such as CDH, are the agencies that enforce the regulations and conduct inspections. 

CDH inspected everything from water quality and clarity to chemical usage, plus critical safety elements like proper signage and secured handrails. CDH alone inspects 36 public pools annually across Ada, Boise, Elmore and Valley counties.

“I think the public expectation for swimming pools, for childcare, for food establishments, is to have some assurance of oversight to make sure that they’re operating in a healthy and safe manner so that you don’t get sick,” Duke said.

The bill was drafted by IDHW, with directives from Director Alex Adams. 

“These rules are overly burdensome and too prescriptive,” said Jared Larsen, a spokesperson for IDHW, in a March hearing discussing the bill. “They even include provisions regulating the dimensions of diving boards… this bill takes IDHW out as the middleman and allows for local control.”

When asked what local control means for public swimming pools, Sen. Julie Van Orden, one of the bill’s sponsors, told KTVB: 

“I believe most public pools are city or county owned, so regulations would be local ordinances. It wouldn’t make sense for the state to regulate them. The health districts would work with the local municipalities, or they could even adopt their own policies. The state hasn’t done inspections for many years, it’s been the health districts.”

However, local health districts interpreted the changes as removing required health inspections altogether.

“The changes to the Department of Health and Welfare authority no longer have an authority to essentially create rules for public swimming pool safety,” Duke said. “The rules themselves that we use to do our inspections will also become obsolete at that point in time.”

“The seven public health districts conducted inspections and enforced the rules under the Department of Health and Welfare’s authority. The new law removed the Director of DHW’s authority to enforce the rules that were established by the Board of Health and Welfare.

Without the rules, neither CDH nor any other health district has the legal authority to conduct inspections or enforcement activities for public swimming pools.

The health districts could try to establish their own rules, but they would need to go to the legislature for approval, which does not seem likely.”

After July 1, Duke said inspections would only occur if public pool operators specifically requested them from local health districts.

Duke warned that eliminating preventative inspections could endanger public health: “That’s a reality. And those things can happen even with the most well-run swimming pools, which most of our public pools actually are, the ones we’re currently inspecting. They do a good job, but things can and do go wrong, and that’s often when we’ll get called in.”

Duke suggested the change could help CDH establish relationships with private pools to also participate in voluntary inspections or education programs by CDH. 

The timing coincides with the upcoming pool season. Boise pools are set to open in exactly four weeks, while Meridian and Nampa won’t open until June.

Doug Holloway, the director of parks and recreation for the City of Boise, issued this statement to KTVB: 

“Nothing changes in how we maintain and operate our public pools at Boise Parks and Recreation. We already adhere to the strictest health and safety standards, and will continue to do so with or without CDH acting as a governing body that provided its own checks and balances with additional inspections. Our commitment to safety, ongoing maintenance and the city’s strict health protocols will not change. Our pools are tested and inspected daily throughout the season and that process and schedule will not be affected.”