Wisconsin Administrative Code
Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
ATCP 55-89 - Food, Lodging, and Recreation Safety
Chapter ATCP 76 - Safety, Maintenance, and Operation of Public Pools and Water Attractions
Subchapter I - Administration
Section ATCP 76.03 - Definitions

(1) "AED" means automated external defibrillator.

(2) "Active managerial control" means that the risks at the pool are being managed so that the pool is in compliance pursuant to this chapter, or conditions are monitored so that corrections necessary for compliance are in progress.

(3) "Activity pool" means a water attraction with a depth greater than 24 inches or 61 centimeters designed primarily for play activity that uses constructed features and devices, including pad walks, flotation devices, and similar attractions.

(4) "Administrative follow-up" means validation of a corrective action by the operator of a violation through electronic or other effective means by the department or its agent.

(5) "Adult" means a person 18 years of age or older.

(6) "Agent" means the city, county, or village designated by the department pursuant to s. 97.615(2), Stats., and ch. ATCP 74, to issue licenses to and make investigations or inspections of public pools and water attractions.

(7) "Analyte" means a substance that a test is used to detect.

(8) "Approved" means acceptable to the department, based on its determination of conformance with this chapter and good public health practices.

(9) "Attendant" means a person trained to control patrons in a safe and orderly manner.

(10) "Barrier" means a fence, wall, or similar structure meeting the requirements pursuant to s. SPS 390.18 (4).

(11) "Basin" means any vessel constructed of manmade materials designed to hold or receive water, including the splash zone of an interactive play attraction, or a run-out slide.

(12) "Breakpoint chlorination" means to create a hygienic environment in the pool by raising the free available chlorine level to 10 times the combined chlorine level to achieve the destruction of chloramines.

(13) "CPR" means cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

(14) "Certified operator" means an operator who is certified by successful completion of at least one of the following training courses:

(15) "Change of operator" means an existing license holder that sells or otherwise transfers ownership or operation of a pool to another person.

(16) "Children's slide" means a slide that has a maximum height of 4 feet or 1.2 meters as measured vertically from the slide entrance to slide terminus and is located in less than 24 inches or 61 centimeters of water.

(17) "Cold soak pool" means a pool that uses cold water for therapy.

(18) "Combined chlorine" means the combination of free chlorine with other substance in the water.

(19) "Core item" means all of the following:

(20) "Current pool" means a pool that creates a current for the purpose of exercise.

(21) "Death, injury, or illness report" means the written record of all facts regarding an incident resulting in bodily harm that requires assistance from emergency medical personnel for a pool or its associated buildings and structures, including a locker room, equipment room, deck, shower, and toilet facilities.

(22) "Deck" means the approved, unobstructed walking surface immediately adjacent to a pool.

(23) "Deep portion" means a portion of a pool having a design water depth greater than 5 feet or 1.5 meters.

(24) "Department" means the Wisconsin department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection.

(25) "Drop slide" means a slide where the terminus is located 20 inches or 50.8 centimeters or more above the water level.

(26) "Electrical interconnection" means, in connection with a pool, where the recirculation pump and the chemical feed unit are interconnected in such a way that when the recirculation pump power is interrupted or lost, the power to the chemical feed unit is also disabled.

(27) "Enclosure" means the area within the barrier that separates the pool or water attraction area from other areas of the building or premises.

(28) "Engineer" means a registered professional engineer licensed in Wisconsin.

(29) "Entry access point" means the area in which a patron enters a water attraction.

(30) "Equipment" means all the necessary items for the operation of a public pool.

(31) "Erosion feeder" means a chemical feed device that contains powder, tablets, briquettes, or sticks and allows a water stream to pass through it that erodes and dissolves the chemical.

(32) "Exercise pool" means a pool of 5 feet or 1.5 meters in depth or less that can operate with or without a current.

(33) "Existing pool" means a pool operating with a license first issued by the department or its agent on or before June 30, 2023.

(34) "Feature" means a pool with a depth greater than 16 feet, a pool with a surface area greater than 20,000 sq. ft., or a physical object permanently installed in a pool that is intended for recreational use including, a pool slide, waterslide, pad walk, basketball hoop, diving board, wave generator, treadmill, vortex pool, climbing wall, current pool, swim-up bar, vanishing edge pool, tethered or nontethered floatable, or a spray feature.

(35) "Filter aid" means finely powdered diatomaceous earth or similar approved material used to coat a septum type filter.

(36) "Flow sensing" means an automatic safety mechanism designed to disable chemical delivery equipment in the event of a significant decrease, or lack of, a return water flow required for the proper dispersal of a chemical related to water disinfection."

(37) "Flume" means that part of a slide within which sliding takes place.

(38) "Free chlorine residual" means the portion of the total available chlorine that is not "combined chlorine" and is primarily present as hypochlorous acid or HOCl-, hypochlorite ion or OCl-, or Cyanurate-bound available chlorine.

(39) "General public" means any person who patronizes a public pool.

(40) "Imminent health hazard" means a condition that presents a substantial likelihood to cause severe adverse health consequences or death.

(41) "Instructional Program" means an activity occurring in the water that is led by a person teaching a participant how to do an exercise, movement, skill, or similar activity, including a swimming class, an exercise class, or a water aerobics class.

(42) "Interactive play attraction" means a water attraction, including manufactured devices using sprayed, jetted, or other water sources contacting patrons and not incorporating standing or captured water as part of the patron activity area.

Note: Splash pads and spray pads are examples of interactive play attractions.

(43) "Leisure river" means a channeled flow of water of near-constant depth in which the water is moved by pumps or other means of propulsion to provide a river-like flow that transports patrons over a defined path.

(44) "Lifeguard" means a person holding a current certificate from a course that meets the criteria for lifeguarding, first aid, CPR, and AED training and certification set forth in the 2018 Model Aquatic Health Code or as approved by the department.

Note: A listing of approved courses may be obtained by contacting the department. Email datcpdfrsrec@wisconsin.gov or contact the Bureau of Food and Recreational Businesses at (608) 224-4702 or PO Box 8911, Madison, Wisconsin 53708-8911.

(45) "Lifeguard and attendant staffing plan" means a written description about how lifeguards and attendants will be used at pools.

(46) "Maximum flow" means the highest flow rate attainable by the pump without friction from the recirculation system.

(47) "NSF" means National Sanitation Foundation.

(48) "New pool" means a pool operating with a license first issued by the department or its agent on or after July 1, 2023.

(49) "Nontethered floatable" means a flotation device added to a pool that is not tethered to the pool basin, allowing movement of the device around the water, including floating pads or other similar items. "Nontethered floatable" does not include a rubber tube in a leisure river or swim wings.

(50) "Operator" means the owner of a pool or the person responsible to the owner for the operation of a pool, including the mechanical systems operations of the pool.

(51) "Oxidizer" means a chemical that can take away electrons from a molecule or atom, thereby destroying organic matter.

(52) "Owner" means the state, a political subdivision of the state, corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, or individual owning or controlling any pool.

(53) "Pad walk" means a tethered floatable under rope and netting in an activity pool that allows a patron to cross the water using his or her hands.

(54) "Pathogen" means a microbial organism capable of causing disease.

(55) "Patron" means a human user of a pool.

(56) "Patron load" means the number of patrons in a body of water of a pool.

(57) "Peak flow" means the highest flow rate attainable by the pump within the pool's recirculation system.

(58) "Person" means an individual, partnership, association, firm, company, corporation, municipality, county, town or state agency, whether tenant, owner, lessee, or licensee, or the agent, heir, or assignee of any of these.

(59) "Plunge pool" means a pool with a depth of greater than 24 inches or 61 centimeters, located at the exit end of a waterslide flume and intended and designed to receive a patron emerging from the flume.

(60) "Pool and water attraction area" means, in an indoor or outdoor facility, the pool or water attraction and the area within a continuous enclosure.

(61) "Pool or water attraction" means a public pool or water attraction if it serves or is installed for use by the state, a political subdivision of the state, a motel, a hotel, a resort, a camp, a campground, a club, an association, a housing development, an apartment complex with 3 or more dwelling units, a condominium complex, or a housing complex having a homeowners' association, a school, a religious, charitable or youth organization, or an educational or rehabilitative facility.

(62) "Pool slide" means any slide where the drop from the slide terminus to water is less than 20 inches or 50.8 centimeters into greater than 24 inches of water and the flume carries less than 100 gallons of water per minute.

(63) "Priority foundation item" means all of the following:

(64) "Priority item" means all of the following:

(65)

(66) "Responsible supervisor" means a person designated by the operator to maintain compliance with regulations governing safety and sanitation of a pool.

(67) "Reverse flow pool" means a pool type that has a recirculation system, where surface water is drawn from the pool basin through the gutter system, skimmer, or similar device and is filtered, disinfected and returned to the basin through the main drain or floor water inlets.

(68) "Run-out slide" means a waterslide where the rider does not exit into a plunge pool, but has a deceleration area that permits the patron to stop before exiting the slide flume.

(69) "Safety data sheet" means written information that details the hazards associated with a chemical and gives information related to its safe use.

(70) "Shallow portion" means the part of the pool that is 5 feet or 1.5 meters in depth or less.

(71) " Slide terminus" means the last 10 feet or 3.1 meters of a slide flume discharging into a pool.

(72) "Spectator area" means a designated area for people to observe or watch an activity in a pool.

(73) "Splash zone" means the area where water falls on the floor of an interactive play attraction.

(74) "Superchlorination" means the addition of an oxidizing product such as chlorine to pool water to raise the level of oxidizer to at least 10 ppm. "Superchlorination" is sometimes referred to as superoxidation.

(75) "Swim-up bar" means an area of a pool that includes barstool type seating, a countertop, and often a serving area where patrons can order a beverage without leaving the pool.

(76) "Swim wings" means hollow, ring-shaped pieces of plastic, filled with air, that a patron wears on their arms while in the water to help them to float.

(77) "Tethered floatable" means a play item or flotation device that is affixed to the basin of a pool to restrict movement of the item.

(78) "Unauthorized access" means the entrance of a person into a restricted area without permission of the operator or the operator's designated representative.

(79) "Therapy pool" means a pool used for professionally administered physical therapy.

(80) "Turnover time" means the time for a given volume of water to pass through the recirculation system.

(81) "Vanishing edge pool" means a pool where the water flows over one or more edges, producing a visual effect of water with no boundary.

(82) "Vortex pool" means a water attraction that is equipped with a method of transporting water in the basin for the purpose of propelling patrons at speeds dictated by the velocity of the moving stream.

(83) "Wading pool" means a pool having a shallow portion that is a maximum depth of 24 inches or 61 centimeters and intended for children's play.

(84) "Water attraction" means a pool with design and operational features that provide a patron recreational activity other than conventional swimming that involves partial or total immersion of the body, including an activity pool, interactive play attraction, leisure river, plunge pool, vortex pool, vanishing edge pool, waterslide, run-out slide, drop slide, pool slide, wave pool, zero-depth entry pool, and any public pool with features except wading pools.

(85) "Waterslide" means a slide where a water flow of 100 gallons of water per minute or more is intended to carry a rider down a flume.

(86) "Wave pool" means a water attraction designed to simulate breaking or cyclical waves for the purposes of surfing or general play.

(87) "Whirlpool" means a small pool, sometimes called a "spa," which uses higher temperature water than other pools and may include a water agitation system.

(88) "Zero-depth entry pool" means a water attraction having a sloped entrance to where the water depth is 0 inches at the shallowest point.