Beleza, Vitorino de MatosCosta, Rosária SantosBaptista, Marta PintoBeleza, VitorinoPereira, Isabel2026-04-012026-04-012011Beleza, V. M., Costa, R. S. & Baptista, M. P. (2011, March 15-18). Introduction of the parameter 'Total Organic Carbon' (TOC) as a standard for the quality control of swimming pool water. In Beleza, V. B. & Pereira, I. M. (Eds.), Fourth International Conference Swimming Pool and Spa - Research and development on health, air and water quality aspects of the man-made water environment (Proceedings) (pp. 3-7). ISEP. Porto, Portugal.978-989-95907-2-4http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/32176Swimmers introduce organic compounds into swimming pools due to the transferring of sweat, saliva, skin, hair, urine, feces, among other materials, to the water. Water quality control in the tank must include some chemical parameters that will quantitatively reflect the presence of these contaminants in the water. Oxidability to permanganate is included in the regulations and norms of public swimming pools in most developed countries. According to the Portuguese norm NP-731, permanganate oxidability is determined by the oxidation of organic compounds in the water by potassium permanganate in acidic conditions when boiling for 10 minutes. |n fact, this procedure detects all reductants oxidized by the essay conditions, whether organic or inorganic. To overcome these limitations, several entities suggested the determination of Total Organic Carbon (TOC). lsocyanuric acid, H30;C;N;, is used as a stabilising agent for free chlorine. In its combustion, cyanuric acid is totally oxidised, and the products of this reaction are carbon dioxide, which contributes to the TOC value, water and nitrogen. Analytical confirmation of the carbon:isocyanuric acid relationship was performed in the Centro de Estudos de Aguas laboratory, achieving ‘the value of 0.27 quite close to the theoretical relation carbon:isocyanuric acid (0.28). This relationship will help to definition of a maximum value for TOC in swimming pool water, in function of its depth.engMaterials of human originpermanganate oxidabilitytotal organic carbonTOCSwimming poolconference object