Violators in Central Florida ranged from the spa at the exclusive Wyndham Palace Resort on the grounds of Walt Disney World to the Winter Park High School pool, from a Mount Dora municipal pool in a poor neighborhood to the spa at the tony Paramount Health Club in Orlando.

In Volusia County, a string of beachfront mom-and-pop motels on Atlantic Avenue flunked, as did the Grand Seas Resort in Daytona Beach, which markets its condominiums as a "five-star resort." Inspectors noted the wading pool for children was "extremely green."

All were later cleaned up and approved by inspectors.
   

Orlando's popular water parks checked in with clean records.

Nobody knows how many bathers are getting sick from bacteria in public
waters, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said the numbers are rising. The nation's public-health agency just launched its first-ever campaign to warn people that communal bathing grounds can breed dangerous microorganisms and spread disease.

"Very few people know that they can get sick from swimming," said Sean Kaufman, health-communications specialist at the CDC's division of parasitic control. "Everybody always thinks it's caused by what they've eaten."
   

That's because the symptoms of such infections include vomiting and dysentery. In more serious cases, the swimmer can suffer fever, jaundice, seizures, kidney failure or death. The symptoms often hit two days or more after exposure, and most of the diseases are highly contagious.
  

"If a pool has zero chlorine, you are asking for a disease outbreak to occur," said Suzanne Grubbs, an environmental specialist at the Volusia County Health Department in Daytona Beach.
   

FREQUENT CHECKS ARE CRUCIAL
   

Most outbreaks are preventable by simple maintenance that pool operators can -- and are required by law -- to perform. For example, state law says they must check the water once a day for the proper chlorine level.
   

Many don't bother.
   

At the Caravel Motel in Daytona Beach, for example, a pool inspector spent a month trying to get the operator to put enough chlorine in the pool to pass the inspection. Finally, the inspector posted a sign: "Warning! POOL CLOSED! Use of this pool may be hazardous to your health."
   

Chlorine doesn't guarantee a safe pool, though. Some bugs don't die when they're hit with the chemical.
   

"If I were to take a bowl of water and wash your feet and hands in it and pour it in a glass and ask you to swish it in your mouth, who would do that?" asked Kaufman. "That's what you're doing in some of these pools."
   

ORANGE, OSCEOLA LEAD LIST
   

Orange and Osceola counties had the largest number of chlorine violations -- 86 and 51, respectively. Nearly 10 percent of Osceola's 530 pools and spas failed; 4.6 percent flunked in Orange, where there are 1,862 pools and spas.

Those two counties topped the list because of the number of hotels and motels within their boundaries. With 66 violations, Orange and Osceola's tourist spots were the worst offenders when it comes to chlorine violations.
   

In Lake County, 22 or 8.4 percent of 260 pools and spas failed; in Volusia, 3.8 percent, or 39 of the county's 1,021 pools were below standards. Seminole County had the most-sanitary pools and spas -- only three of 490 or 0.6 percent had too little chlorine.
   

Apartment complexes, motels and hotels account for 56 percent of all violations. Pools and spas at condominiums and mobile-home parks were the next-biggest violators, followed by neighborhood and community pools, and then those found at country clubs.
   

School pools and those at fitness centers and health clubs generally fared well, but both the Winter Park High School swimming pool and the spa at Paramount Health Club in Orlando did not have enough chlorine to meet the state's minimum of 1 part per million of chlorine for a pool and 2 parts per million for a spa. Both have since met the standard.
   

"I don't even want to see a pool operating at 1 part per million," said Bob Pryor, environmental specialist with the Florida Department of Health. "You
can go from 1 to 0 in a hurry."
   

Two city pools failed -- Winter Garden's Bouler Pool at Zanders Park and the Lincoln Avenue Recreation Pool in Mount Dora, in the heart of the city's black community.
   

"What timing," said Scott Simphor, Mount Dora's community-services director.
   

He said lightning struck the pool's automatic chlorinator on April 19 -- the evening before the inspector showed up. Staffers thought the machine was working properly when they checked it in the morning.
   

In the west Orange city of Winter Garden, a tube that feeds the chlorinator was clogged when the inspector arrived June 8, said Larry Caskey, the recreation director.
   

"It happens all the time -- usually our maintenance person gets it but this time he didn't," Caskey said.
   

'OFF-THE-WALL STUFF'
   

Officials said they hear the same explanations from pool operators: rain diluted the water, the chlorinator broke or the pool company did not deliver chemicals on time. In those cases, state officials said, operators should close the pools.
   

"Others say 'The sun burned out the chlorine,' or 'I have the chemicals checked twice a week -- what more do you want?'  " Anderson said. "Or they say 'What do you need chlorine for? It rots bathing suits.' I hear a lot of off-the-wall stuff."
   

Sixteen mobile-home parks in the five counties flunked the inspection. At the Palm Ridge Mobile Home Park in Leesburg, manager Becky Pasdash blamed an unsatisfactory review of the park's pool on a broken chlorinator and bad timing.
   

"We spent, like, $6,000 to fix the problems. It's running fine now," Pasdash said earlier this week.
   

Paul Sanan, manager of the Days Inn in Daytona Beach, blamed the hotel's failing spa inspection on its former pool company.
   

"They were not always showing up," he said.
   

Now, the pool is serviced three times a week by a new company, he said.
   

When inspectors find no chlorine, they watch while the person in charge of the pool corrects the problem, or they close the pool.
   

"They don't want to close it, because it hurts their business. I understand the predicament they're in, but I am entrusted with the health code," said Andy Anderson, a pool inspector for the Orange County Health Department.
   

MANY SWIMMERS UNAWARE
   

When management fails to respond, inspectors usually tell the swimmers about the pool's condition -- and those folks are usually shocked.
   

University of Central Florida student Olivia Alicea was dismayed to learn the pool at her apartment complex had no chlorine when tested June 13. The 19-year-old said her infant niece often visits, and they play together in the
pool at the Alafaya Trail Apartments.
   

"It's freaking me out to think my niece could get something in the pool," she said. "If it's something you can't see, that's scary."
   

But At Deerwood Mobile Home Park off Colonial Drive in east Orange County, 15-year-old Melissa Roman wasn't surprised to learn that two of the park's three pools had no chlorine when tested July 3.
   

"I won't touch the wading pool -- that's the disgusting one. It smells all the time," said Melissa, who lives at the park. "At the back pool, you can feel the green slime under your feet. It's just nasty."
   

But Roman and her buddies swim anyway -- they're desperate to escape the heat.
   

Most pool operators -- particularly those who run motels and hotels -- act quickly when a pool inspector threatens to close down the fun for guests.
   

But not all.
   

Records show that one of the most egregious violators was the Caravel Motel in Daytona Beach, where an inspector found no chlorine in the pool June 29 and noted on a report that management was not keeping the required written daily log of maintenance and testing.
   

The inspector closed the pool and made arrangements to re-check it the next day. Still no chlorine. Inspector Brian Volkman found the same conditions later that day, and on July 2 the motel had not yet met chlorine standards.  All it would have taken to pass was an inexpensive pack of chlorine available at discount stores. Volkman finally posted a sign at the pool warning bathers of the health hazard.

On July 3, Caravel got the OK to reopen the pool. The operator, Fadel Elbadramy, could not be reached for comment.
   

Many pool operators who flunked inspections did not want to discuss why they failed.
   

"I have no comment," said Judy Ruggieri, manager at Ocean Oaks Apartments in Port Orange, where an inspector noted in May that the pool was so green he couldn't see the main drain.
   

WHAT'S LURKING BENEATH
   

Among the illnesses swimmers risk getting in pools with too little chlorine, according to the CDC, are:
   

Gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the digestive tract, which can cause diarrhea, stomach cramps, vomiting, and fever. The bacteria and virus can live in soil, anim ls and humans. Legionnaire's disease, which usually causes fever, chills and a cough, and sometimes muscle aches, headache, fatigue and loss of appetite  It can also harm kidney function. The bacteria reproduce to high numbers in warm water.
   

Giardiasis, a diarrheal illness caused by a parasite that lives in the intestines of people and animals.
   

Salmonellosis, which causes diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps. In severe
cases, usually in the elderly, infants and those with impaired immune systems, the infection can spread from the intestines to the blood stream and can cause death if the person does not receive antibiotics.
   

Shigellosis, an illness that causes diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps. A severe infection with high fever may also cause seizures in children younger than 2.
   

Hepatitis A, a virus that causes jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain, nausea
and other symptoms. About 15 percent of infected people will have prolonged or relapsing symptoms during a six- to nine-month period.
   

Swimmers often don't know a pool made them sick because symptoms sometimes don't appear until a week after bathing, said the CDC's Kaufman. Many of the diseases are highly contagious and can spread to others long after the infected person leaves the pool. Some require a specific antibiotic, while others must run their course.
   

Even in the cleanest pools, however, people can be attacked by bacteria.

Florida last year reported six outbreaks of cryptosporidium, a parasite that can survive in chlorinated water for days. In 1999, the state had three outbreaks, compared with one in 1998 and none in the previous three years. 

It can cause a month's worth of nausea, vomiting, fever, abdominal cramping, and profuse diarrhea.
   

"Everything used to get killed by chlorine," Kaufman said. "Now there are things surviving and thriving."
   

Five of the 38 swimmers sickened in 2000 fell ill after swimming at the Ormond Holiday Club condominium pool in Volusia County. That occurred when a family from Ohio -- where there had been a cryptosporidium outbreak – visited the pool, and their infant in diapers had bowel movements in the water two days in a row.
   

Another swimmer notified condo staffers, who immediately closed the pool, shocked it with chlorine for nine hours, vacuumed it and cleaned the filters. Though staffers followed state guidelines for cleanup, five people fell ill anyway.

TREATMENT NOT COMPLICATED

Pool inspectors say mastering the art of pool science is not difficult -- anyone can easily become a poolside chemist with an inexpensive kit available at discount and pool stores.

Homeowners should make sure chlorine is regularly fed into pool water and should test the water daily. Pools used by the public should be tested more than the required once a day.
   

"It's not as critical with a home pool, but when you get all kinds of people from all over the world swimming in a pool, it can be critical," said Jim Crago, sanitation safety supervisor at the Orange County Health Department.
   

Along with low-chlorine violations, dozens of other Central Florida pools failed inspections because they had too much chlorine. A Volusia County pool inspector temporarily closed the spa at Martinique Condo in Ponce Inlet, noting that it had chlorine levels "off the charts." Too much chlorine can bleach clothes but is not likely to cause health problems.
   

Ironically, if the odor of chlorine is strong and if swimmers' eyes are red and burn, that's often an indication that there isn't enough chlorine or that the pH is too low or too high, Kaufman said. The higher the pH, the less likely the chlorine will do its job.
   

HOW CAN YOU TELL?
   

The CDC is trying to get the word out to the public in its first education campaign about water-borne illnesses. The agency has a detailed Internet site on the to ic and has contracted with two Olympic swimmers to appear on posters warning the public of the danger.
   

The most important thing people should know: If it looks cloudy, green, black or mustard-colored, don't jump in. Ditto if it smells.
   

"I've seen pools so green you couldn't see the bottom of it, and people were swimming in it," said Anderson.
   

Kaufman said people "need to be very cautious." He recommended that swimmers ask questions about pool maintenance, and if they are unsure, visit their county health department to review a pool's inspection report.

Crago likened taking a public dip in a public pool to driving.