In fabric or silicone, plain or floral, you will now have to take out your most beautiful swimming cap to enjoy the pool Victor Jara de Reze. As more and more institutions have decided In France Lately, this swimming pool in the Nantes area has required swimmers to cover their heads before diving in, starting this Monday. Cleanliness is the first cause put forward by the community, which relies on education to encourage users to change their habits. “Swimming among floating hair is not very pleasant,” says Didier Quéraud, sports assistant. But it’s not just hygiene: other reasons, health and economic, explain this decision. »
Because wearing or not wearing your swimming cap would have a butterfly effect (and we’re not talking about swimming). Let’s do a little chemistry first: less hair lying around in water means less chloramines, these oxidizing agents produced by chlorine when it destroys organic matter (sweat, saliva, dead skin, styling gel …) that he finds in the basins. And therefore less trichloramine, this volatile compound responsible for the characteristic odor of swimming pools, and harmful to the health of bathers but, above all, to that of the agents. “Lifeguards sometimes spend their entire day in this atmosphere, which is annoying for their comfort and health,” estimates Didier Quéraud. Irritating to the respiratory tract, trichloramines in excessively high levels are also sometimes responsible for the unexpected closure of the pool. “When we talk about public service, we also talk about continuity of service. »
Less water, less energy consumption
Aside from giving us a terrible look, the little latex accessory would only have advantages. At the Grand Chalon nautical area (Chalon sur Saône), where the measure has been applied for several years, the environmental argument is put forward: “Wearing a swimming cap means using fewer chemicals and preserving the ‘environment. To wash the filters, you need water. If less hair clogs the filters, less water is used to clean them and they do their job better! » “There is also of course an economic aspect,” continues Didier Quéraud in Rezé. We have no real estimate of what we could win, but we are tracking everything that could go in that direction. »
In Saint-Lô agglo, in Manche, we have already taken out the calculator. In July 2022, the agglomeration made the swimming cap compulsory in its aquatic center, the last swimming pool in the territory where you could still come with your hair in the wind. “It was necessary to reduce our energy consumption,” recalls Philippe Briout, deputy general director at the agglomeration, in charge of the Children, Youth and Sports division. And in particular by making our filters work less, and by injecting less water, which is also heated. » One year later, the savings are there: 30,000 euros less in costs, and treatment systems that are less clogged and therefore more efficient.
When wearing a hat becomes a constraint
It must be said that there are fewer passages in the water to deal with, with attendance falling with the introduction of the cap. “We were at 230,000 bathers per year before Covid, we are around 180,000,” calculates Philippe Briout, who specifies that this drop can also come from the slight increase in the entry ticket, implemented at the same time. The cap can therefore be perceived as a constraint, even if other users find it reassuring. »
In Rezé, it was the fear of this disaffection which had motivated the previous municipal team to avoid the question. But in 2023, after having experienced Covid and while the need to save energy is everywhere, the town hall is confident in the acceptance of the measure, to the point of qualifying it as a “trend” and applying it to all users from the age of six months. “The swimming cap is a help for little ones who have their first contact with water,” reveals Didier Quéraud. Lifeguards notice that they are no longer bothered by hair in their eyes, that they can use their hands to swim and no longer to clear it. » Schools were already using it.