Existing law requires that every person, including both public and private entities, operating or maintaining a public swimming pool do so in a sanitary, healthful, and safe manner, and authorizes the State Department of Public Health to supervise the sanitation, healthfulness, and safety of public swimming pools. Existing law requires the department to make and enforce regulations pertaining to public swimming pools as it deems proper and to enforce specified building standards relating to public swimming pools. Existing law also requires every health officer to enforce the specified building standards relating to swimming pools and other regulations adopted by the department. Existing law defines public swimming pool for these purposes. Existing law makes a person who violates these provisions guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a specified fine or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.

This bill would also establish requirements for a cold plunge tub, including, among other things, that the cold plunge tub is prohibited from being placed or used within the same enclosure as a public pool or spa. The bill would define a cold plunge tub to mean an aboveground, individual use therapeutic tub that is maintained at temperatures between 35 degrees Fahrenheit and 60 degrees Fahrenheit by use of a mechanical chiller, among other things. The bill would specify that a cold plunge tub is not considered a public swimming pool and is not subject to any of the construction or sanitation standards mentioned above.