The basis for evaluation of the quality of water in swimming pools is the old regulation no. 48 of 1978. The proposed text of the Ministry of Health "Publication of the Ministry of Health on hygienic demands on water quality and wholesome- ness for outdoor swimming pools, artificial swimming pools and saunas..." adopts some unsuitable and unnecessary criteria from this regulation for evaluation of the quality of water: chloride and ammonia ions. A similar German regulation (DIN 19643/1997) does not use these criteria. Similar and more perfect information than by chlorides is provided by nitrates, and ammonia ions can be substituted by the content of bound chlorine.Both these „better criteria“ (nitrates and bound chlorine) are included in the draft of the new regulations. It would therefore be useful to omit chlorides and ammonia ions and thus simplify the checking of swimming pool water and make it cheaper. The following text gives more detailed explanations of the proposal and emphasizes the importance of the indicator „bound chlorine“ which is often omitted in contemporary practice.

        Key words: swimming pools - hygiene - water - regulations - quality control