Health officials test the water quality at a swimming pool in Shanghai. Photo: Yang Hui/GT

It's the perfect weather for a cooling swim and that also means it's the peak season for the city's 600 or so public pools. With all those sweaty bodies splashing about, it's unsurprising that the perennial problem of swimming pool hygiene has bobbed to the surface.

Since July 1, the Shanghai Municipal Health Inspection Institute has been testing the water quality of swimming pools, taking samples to check for microflora levels and physical and chemical levels, in particular chlorine and pH levels, while also measuring the water's clarity.

By July 28, the institute had visited and tested 231 swimming pools (including those in hotels and residential neighborhoods). Seven of them were found to have higher than specified levels of microflora and 11 failed to meet two or more physical or chemical standards.

Meanwhile, a local newspaper tested the water in 10 pools in residential complexes. These tests found that none of the pools had enough chlorine in the water to meet government standards.

One group of parents is even suing a pool in Pudong New Area, claiming that poor sanitary conditions there caused their children to develop urinary tract infections after taking swimming lessons.

The Global Times took to the streets to hear some of the experiences foreigners have had with swimming in city pools and whether they think the checks mean it's safe to go back in the water.

Jasper Mazur, student, Netherlands

I haven't been swimming since I moved to Shanghai a year ago, but I have heard bad things about the pools here from my friends and from the Internet - how the hygiene standards aren't so good. I do enjoy swimming so I will try sometime. Like anywhere else, I'm sure there are good places and bad places. You'd hope that people would stop going to the bad places, which would give the pools an incentive to improve. Better inspection standards will also help.

Ian Evans, administration officer, the UK

It's about time something was done about the pool standards.

I like swimming a lot and there is a pool in my compound. But it is often overcrowded, especially in the summer during the school break. Also, I have seen people do disgusting things, like spitting, and I've never seen the staff intervene. A few years ago, they started asking people to show a kind of health certificate each time you wanted to swim. But it was a joke. You paid 5 yuan ($0.81), and the receptionist just gave one to you. No need for a medical check or anything. After a few weeks, they stopped asking to see them.

Manuel Saccomandi, consultant, Italy

The only safe situation can be found at high-end hotels, maybe. But if you are talking about commercial gyms, it's a disaster.

I think they will have to show customers how they are going to offer a better service. If they are just claiming they are better, but if you don't see the process - how they clean the water, how often, and that someone is there to certify what they are doing - then there are no controls. So they can claim whatever they want because no one is supervising it.

I love China, and I want to stay here, so that means I rely on the system and have to rely on the fact that the system will force them to change. It's like food. China has a long way to go to guarantee its citizens that food is supervised. I know that because I also work with some foreign companies that are food suppliers. The supply chain is not good here. So the government is trying to improve it to show that the controls are very tight.

I've decided to give up swimming. I could go to a hotel, but I don't think you should have to spend 10,000 yuan a year to swim in a safe place in China. I don't think of swimming as a luxury activity. Of course, if you want something luxurious, you can find that, but I think a decent level of quality should be granted to everyone.

William Larson, financial consultant, the US

I don't swim. I don't get in swimming pools. I don't like all of the chemicals they put in them. I don't really care about the germs. I'm more afraid of the things they put in there to get rid of the germs, to tell you the truth.

The thing about here that kind of grosses me out - well it's just like anywhere I guess - but they make you wear a swimming cap. For some reason, Chinese people shed hair like crazy and it clogs up the drains, so they're required to wear caps. So when you're swimming, it's kind of gross to think that there's hair floating around.

Zachary Watson, works for a technology company, the US

I actually like swimming a lot. I studied here before and I remember it was like an epic journey to find the perfect swimming pool, and I never found it.

I've heard that the only way you can get one that's even remotely clean is if you go to one of the really expensive hotels. But the ones I found were not up to par.

At that time I was swimming about three times a week. I was looking for lap swimming pools, just for exercise. And I ran into a lot of problems, like they were too shallow, or there were too many people, or the water was kind of murky.

It obviously does't help if the facilities seem kind of rundown, and then you look at the water and you can see it's at about half the level that it should be, and it's not blue or clear.

I don't swim here anymore. The pool conditions just aren't as nice as I would like them to be and it is easier to do other forms of exercise.

Karen, teacher, Canada

I've been using the pools in Shanghai for a few years. I've been to a wide variety, from compound pools, which are private and you need a membership to get in, to the public swimming pools and gym pools. And I have to say that the private pools are the cleanest.

The key factor may be that fewer people use these pools, so they are cleaner. When you go to the public pools, swimming is so incredibly popular in the summer that I don't even think they can keep up with cleaning the public pools.

The problem is that people don't shower before they go into the pools. And if they do, it's just a cursory shower, where the water just hits their body and then they walk into the pool.

When I'm swimming, I try not to think about what's in the pool. That's the key. I love swimming. If I thought about what was in the pool, I would never make it into the pool.

Global Times