Encyclopedia of Environmental Science and Engineering, Volume I and II

RECREATION AREAS AND TEMPORARY

RESIDENCES

Bathing Beaches and Swimming Pools

The sanitation of bathing places is dictated by health and

aesthetic reasons. Few people would knowingly swim or

water ski in polluted water; and insanitary surroundings are

not conductive to the enjoyment of “a day at the beach.”

People are demanding more and cleaner beaches and pools,

and a camp, hotel, club, or resort without a pool or beach is

not nearly as popular as one that has this facility.

Health Hazards

From our knowledge of disease transmission, it is known that

certain illnesses can be transmitted by improperly operated

or located swimming pools and beaches through contact and

ingestion of polluted water. Among these are typhoid fever,

dysentery, and other gastrointestinal illnesses; conjunctivi-

tis, trachoma, leptospirosis, ringworm infections, schistoso-

miasis, or swimmer’s itch; upper respiratory tract diseases

such as sinus infection, septic sore throat, and middle ear

infection. The repeated fl ushing of the mucous coatings of

the eyes, ears, and throat, and the excessive use of alum or

356 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

PORTABLE FENCE TO

CATCH BLOWING PAPER

DAILY EARTH

COVER (6.-IN.)

COMPACTED

SOLID WASTE

ORIGINAL

GROUND

FINAL EARTH

COVER (2-FT.)

FIGURE 13 Area method. The bulldozer spreads and compacts solid wastes. The scraper (foreground) is used to haul

the cover material at the end of the day’s operations. Note the portable fence that catches any blowing debris. This is used

with any landfill method.

EARTH COVER OBTAINED

BY EXCAVATION

IN TRENCH

COMPACTED

SOLID WASTE

ORIGINAL

GROUND

DAILY EARTH COVER (6.-IN.)

FIGURE 14 Trench method. The waste collection truck deposits its load into the trench where the bulldozer

spreads and compacts it. At the end of the day the dragline excavates soil from the future trench; this soil is used

as the daily cover material. Trenches can also be excavated with a front-end loader, bulldozer, or scraper. From

Sanitary Landfill Factors, Thomas J. Sorg and H. Lanier Hickman, U.S. Department of Health, Education and

Welfare, Public Health Service Publication N. 1792, Superintendent of Documents, Washington, DC, 1970.

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