Feature Story

July 2015

Make Your Voice Heard: Drive Healthy & Safe Swimming

The Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code (CMAHC) announced that CMAHC members will be voting on more than 150 proposed changes to the Model Aquatic Health Code this October. The CMAHC is the nonprofit machine that drives the MAHC change process. Professionals are encouraged to join CMAHC so they can have a voice in the MAHC update.

Voting will take place electronically during, and for two weeks after, the first CMAHC Vote on the Code 2015 Biennial Conference, slated for Oct. 6 to 7, 2015 in Scottsdale, Ariz., just prior to the 12th World Aquatic Health Conference.

"Only CMAHC members have the ability to comment on proposed changes to the MAHC, and only members can vote on the proposed changes; so if professionals and organizations care about what is in the MAHC, about the MAHC's future, and want to maximize the opportunities for safe and healthy aquatic experiences for the public, it's important to take the wise step and join the CMAHC," said Doug Sackett, executive director of CMAHC. "The CMAHC is unique in that no other organization exists exclusively to advocate, evolve, innovate, promote implementation and organize research in support of the Model Aquatic Health Code."

This is the year the CMAHC invites attendees to the Vote on the Code 2015 Biennial Conference for discussion and greater understanding on new and updated content for the MAHC. Registrants can further educate themselves by hearing discussion and the rationale behind the more than 150 proposed changes on which members will vote electronically during the conference and for the two weeks following the conference.

The MAHC, unlike other codes, is kept sustainable, current and complete because the people who use it vote on its content every other year via membership in the CMAHC. It is based on scientific data and best practices gathered through a strong partnership between public health and aquatics industry experts; thus it is easier to adopt and implement. Unlike legislation, the MAHC is voluntarily adopted wholly or in part and driven by your expertise. It is free, accessible to all, backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and will become the international standard.

It took dozens of volunteer experts seven years to create the MAHC, which is the only all-inclusive, science-based, data-driven model pool code in existence. The MAHC was released in the summer of 2014. The MAHC guides aquatic facility, design, construction, operation, maintenance, policies and management of public aquatic facilities. "States and localities can use the MAHC to write or update existing pool codes to reduce risk for outbreaks, drowning and pool-chemical injuries. And aquatics industry leaders don't have to wait for a government agency to adopt the MAHC. They can implement key MAHC elements now," added Michael Beach, Ph.D., Associate Director for Healthy Water in CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases and Chief of the Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch.

Learn more at www.cmahc.org.