For businesses

Maintenance for public-access pools

A pool the public walks into, with a named operator answering for it. The difference is not the volume of water — it is traceability.

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How does maintenance work on a public-access pool?

On a public-access pool treatment stops being weekly and becomes daily: bather load consumes disinfectant at a rate a family pool never sees, and water can go from compliant to non-compliant within the same day. In Lisbon and on the South Bank, ManutençãoPiscinas runs testing at every opening and through the busiest hours, keeps a dated written record of every measurement and correction, and agrees a closure procedure in writing before it is needed. The specific obligations that fall on your installation are set by the câmara municipal and the local health authority — confirm them with those bodies in writing; our role is to carry them out and document them. It starts with a technical visit to your installation, which sets the plan and the figure.

Content reviewed in August 2026.

Who this page is for

Municipal pools and sports-complex pools
Association, club and community pools open to the public
Operators with a named technical manager
Installations with more than one tank, including a learner pool
Indoor pools, where ventilation is part of the problem

Why a public pool is a different problem

The difference starts with load. A family pool takes five people over a weekend; a public tank takes five people a minute on a July afternoon. Every bather brings sweat, sunscreen and organic matter that consumes disinfectant — and consumption tracks attendance, not time. That is why treatment is measured in hours, not days.

The second difference is who gets in. In a private pool, the people using it know it. In a public tank you get people who have never been there, including children and non-swimmers. That changes what has to be posted, what has to be signed, and what happens when the water stops letting you see the bottom — which is grounds for immediate closure, not for "let us see tomorrow".

The third difference is proof. On a private pool nobody asks for your records. On a public installation the record is the first thing an inspection asks for and the first thing that is missing when there is an incident. A logbook filled in afterwards is worth nothing; a dated, signed, contemporaneous record is worth everything.

What is asked of you, and what we do

The exact requirements depend on your municipality and the type of installation. The right-hand column is what ManutençãoPiscinas carries out and documents under contract.

What is asked of the operator	What we do
Water controlled as often as attendance demands	Testing at every opening and again at peak load, covering pH, free and combined disinfectant
Documentary proof of treatment	A dated written record of every measurement, dose applied and task performed, signed by the technician
A defined reaction when a value goes out of range	A written procedure agreed with you: who is told, within what time, and in which cases the tank closes
Filtration capacity matched to capacity	Turnover time calculated against real flow rate and declared capacity, verified at the diagnosis
Safety equipment in working order	Suction grilles, rescue equipment and signage checked at every visit
Chemicals stored properly	Separation, ventilation and restricted access checked, with non-conformities recorded

What the law requires of pools in public use

Which statute applies to each kind of installation, the testing and analysis cadence, the Annex II values and what the maintenance company covers — with the sources cited.

See the legal obligations

Rhythm through the year

A public installation has no low season for treatment — it has a low season for attendance. The tank is still treated.

Period	What happens
Before the season opens	Full check of hydraulics, filtration and safety, with an entry report and a list of what must be fixed before opening
Peak attendance	Daily presence, testing at opening and at peak hours, immediate correction and a record per shift
Low attendance	Reduced but maintained visits, with filtration assured and water held stable
Closing	Winterisation or reduced maintenance depending on the installation, and a technical window for replacements without affecting service

What ends up in your file

Everything we hand over is meant to be shown to a third party: an inspection, an insurer, a court, or the executive that approved the spend.

A dated, signed treatment record, one line per measurement
A report per visit with measurements, products applied and anomalies found
A written closure procedure, agreed before it is needed
Written notice the same day whenever we find grounds for closure
An entry report with the state of the installation at the start of the contract
A consolidated history, available to the operator at any time

What it costs

We publish no figure for public-access pools, and you should be wary of anyone who quotes one from a distance: the price depends on tank volumes, capacity, the number of daily visits and what the installation needs in equipment. The figures on our pricing page are residential and do not apply here. What we do is a technical visit to the installation, followed by a written proposal setting out the full scope — a document built to be compared against others and taken to a decision.

See the price list Talk to us

Services this contract includes

Water Treatment Pool Cleaning Pump Maintenance Filter Replacement

Frequently asked questions

The questions operators ask us before signing. If yours is not here, call us.

In practice several times a day during busy periods: bather load consumes disinfectant fast and water can degrade between morning and afternoon. The minimum frequency required of you is set by the câmara municipal and the local health authority — ask for it in writing. Under contract we work with testing at every opening and again at peak hours.

Whenever the water does not let you see the bottom, whenever disinfectant is absent, and after a faecal incident. In all three the decision does not wait: we give written notice the same day and set out what is needed to reopen safely. The procedure is agreed with you at the start of the contract, precisely so it is not being debated in the moment.

A contemporaneous record, dated and signed, with the measurements and the corrections. What does not serve is a logbook filled in later — it lacks the one thing that gives it value, which is having been written at the time. We hand that record over at every visit and keep the consolidated history.

We do not set them out here or give them to you in writing, because they vary with the municipality and the type of installation, and because a wrong answer is expensive for you. Confirm them with your câmara municipal and the local health authority, and ask for the answer in writing. After that, we carry out and document what has been established.

No. Some relevant microorganisms are notably chlorine-resistant and survive in normally disinfected water. That kind of incident requires the tank closed, an enhanced treatment and prolonged filtration before reopening — and the record showing it was done.

Yes, and it is the common case: main tank, learner pool and sometimes a hydromassage tank. Each gets its own record, because each has its own load and behaviour. The learner pool is usually the most demanding, being the smallest and the most used by children.

In an indoor pool the problem stops being only the water and becomes the air as well. Chloramines accumulate in the layer immediately above the surface, which is exactly where a swimmer breathes, and ventilation decides whether that is a problem. We check the combined chlorine load and flag when what needs fixing is the ventilation, not the treatment.

We are not lawyers and we do not answer that. What we can say is what weighs in any such analysis: posted rules, adequate signage, rescue equipment in working order, and a dated written maintenance record. The first three are the operator's; the fourth is ours, and we hand it over at every visit.