Splash pads really are fountains of fecal material; CDC reports 10K illnesses

Once infectious material gets into the water, disinfection systems that aren’t working properly or are inadequate can allow pathogens to gush from every nozzle. Splash pads aren’t unique in having to handle sick children in poopy swim diapers—but they are unique in how they are regulated. That is, in some places, they’re not regulated at all. Splash pads are designed to not have standing water, therefore reducing the risk of young children drowning. But, because they lack standing water, they are sometimes deemed exempt from local health regulations. Before 2000, only 13 states regulated splash pads. Though many states have since added regulations, some did so only after splash pad-linked outbreaks were reported.

Downpour of disease

The primary method for keeping recreational water free of infectious viruses and bacteria is chlorinating it. However, maintaining germ-killing chlorine concentration is especially difficult for splash pads because the jets and sprays aerosolize chlorine, lowering the concentration.

Still, in most splash-pad linked outbreaks, standard chlorine concentrations aren’t enough anyway. The most common pathogen to cause an outbreak at splash pads is the parasite Cryptosporidium, aka Crypto. The parasite’s hardy spores, called oocysts, are extremely tolerant of chlorine, surviving in water with the standard chlorine concentration (1 ppm free chlorine) for over seven days. (Other germs die in minutes.) In splash pads that might not even have that standard chlorine concentration, Crypto flourishes and can cause massive outbreaks.

In 2023, the CDC recommended new health codes that call for “secondary disinfection” methods to keep Crypto at bay, including disinfection systems using ozone or ultraviolet light. Another possible solution is to have “single-pass” splash pads that don’t recirculate water.

In all, to keep splash pads from being geysers of gastrointestinal parasites and pathogens, various changes have to happen, the CDC experts say.

“Prevention of waterborne disease outbreaks at splash pads requires changes in user behavior; recreational venue code updates; and improved venue design, construction, operation, and management of facilities,” they conclude. But it should all start with keeping kids from sitting on jets and drinking the water.