Ocean pools include:

• 
’Natural’ or ‘found’ pools produced by natural processes or showing little apparent human intervention that have been recognised, designated and used as bathing places and have recognised access paths labelled or mapped,
• ring-of-rocks pools, rocks arranged on sand to define a recognised bathing place, These pools are easy to create on any sandy beach with a good supply of rocks nearby,  and require little maintenance, except to keep remove rocks, sand or seaweed, and rearrange the rocks after storms,
• minimalist ocean pools,  
irregularly shaped bathing pools involving minimal excavation and construction, and
• 

classic ocean pools, 
a range of pools associated with rocky ocean shores or surf beaches. These  include formed concrete pools located in the tidal zone, excavations/indentations in rock, perhaps augmented with walls of cement or concrete to define a bathing place, and complexes of pools and associated building.

While pools of standard 50 metre competition length with marked lanes are best for competitive swimming, a rectangular competition space can be defined within a large round or irregularly shaped pool.

Ocean pools are NOT:

• pools sited out of the intertidal zone whether off the beach,  on a hill above the sea or even indoors, or
• netted enclosures or other forms of bathing pools linked to a breakwater
.

Ocean pools  have been workplaces for caretakers, pool lessees, kiosk lessees, swimming teachers, contractors, council staff and other people engaged in maintenance work at the baths. Care of an ocean pool was sometimes one of the duties performed by lifesavers paid by Australian surfside councils during the summer months.

Voluntary work at the baths includes working bees and free coaching or lessons, but also the work performed by honorary baths inspectors often drawn from swimming clubs or surf lifesaving clubs.

Keeping order at the ocean baths was sometimes  thought to require the powers of a special constable.

Pool staffing remains controversial as concerns about public liability grow.

The Olympic Games became the high point of international competitive swimming and set the standard for swimming facilities. Swimming events at the 1896 Olympics were held in the open sea and those of the 1912 in an enclosure in Stockholm harbour, but standards of Olympic swimming facilities continued to rise.

By the 1930s, an Olympic-size pool was the sort of facility where elite swimmers wanted to compete and train. In Australia,  even school competitions focused on standardised Olympic distances. Pools of non-standard distances afflicted with waves were seen as far from ideal training grounds for serious competition, swimming clubs and surf clubs still valued their  long association with older non-Olympic ocean pools.

While they lacked the glory of the Olympic pools,  older non-Olympic ocean pools were still good places to splash, float, learn to swim and then move on to elite competition pools. In the late-twentieth century, convivial winter swimming clubs helped bring competition back to many of Australia’s ‘less than Olympic-size’ ocean pools.

Minimalist ocean pools such as natural holes in the rock platforms or ring-of-rocks pools require little maintenance.

 Keeping the more elaborate ocean baths operational demands prompt attention to maintenance issues and sometimes major renovations.

While pool users accept the need for pools to be inspected, cleaned maintained and repaired, they are frustrated by infrequent cleaning and by lengthy pool closures. Repair and replacement work usually has little effect on the heritage significance of the ocean pools, which derives more from the social significance and aesthetic siting than from their construction methods and fabric.

For an ocean pool to survive, it usually needs champions. These can be local residents, or more formalised organisations such as surf lifesaving clubs, swimming clubs, progress associations or Chambers of Commerce. Those champions need a keen grasp of the priority tasks.



Priorities

The highest maintenance priority is normally given to correcting matters that might cause injury to pool users and lead to litigation. High priority maintenance tasks include addressing:

• defective stairs,
• 
badly cracked and rough surfaces on the pool concourse and pool surrounds,
• slippery surfaces and surfaces with broken edges,
• oyster growths that may cause injuries,
• damage to scuppers, joints and pump surrounds,
• 
joint damage in the pool floors causing leakage problems, and
• post and rails/chains damaged by wave action.

Medium priority maintenance tasks include addressing:

• filling of holes in pool floors, and
• 
taking geotechnical advice on possible instability of cliffs and rock faces associated with the pools.

Low priority maintenance tasks include addressing cracks in concrete and render, which do not cause leaks or uneven surfaces and may have existed for years without causing problems.

Material considerations

The main materials used in the construction of ocean pools are concrete and wood. Each of these materials poses specific maintenance problems.

Concrete

Concrete
 expands in hot weather and contracts in cold. Eventually it can crack. The amount of concrete used in a pool varies. The main concrete defects relate to:

• concrete cancer
 (This is where corrosion of the reinforcement results in cracking and spalling of adjacent concrete. This is most likely to occur where the concrete wasn’t deep enough over the reinforcement bars, or where an unsuitable concrete mix was used or where failure to properly compact the  concrete allowed the reinforcement to rust and the expansion of the reinforcement bars disrupted the concrete),
• joint failures and damage to adjacent concrete 
(also often caused by reinforcement corrosion), and
• damage to trafficable surfaces by seawater and wave action.

Cracks in the concrete can:

• 
cause the pool to leak,
• create sharp edges that can injure unwary swimmers, and
• 
trap rotting seaweed, producing bad smells and threatening swimmers with skin irritations.

Badly abraded surfaces in the pool surrounds and concourses may need to be:

• replaced 
(This is an expensive but long-lasting repair. Removing damaged concrete and replacing it with new slabs helps avoid problems about maintaining the same levels.), or
• repaired with a thin overlay proven to endure in marine environments for a number of years.

 Protective coatings placed over damaged surfaces can only reduce the rate of the decay, not stop it.

Where corrosion-promoting agents remain in the concrete, the only permanent solution is to replace the defective concrete. While costly in the short-term,  this can be less expensive in the long-term than repeated unsatisfactory local repairs. 

While more serviceable stainless steel or galvanised reinforcement should be generally used at ocean baths, placing stainless steel near any original mild steel bars can accelerate corrosion.

Wood

Dressing sheds and other wooden structures require constant maintenance as they risk damage from wind, water and worms.

Cleaning, testing and inspections

Some ocean pools need to be regularly cleared of sand, especially after substantial storms. In the past, this was sometimes a task tackled by working bees. Nowdays, sand can be remove from ocean pools by using front-end loaders with rubber tyres that minimise damage to the pool.

Cleaning schedules for ocean baths depend on the tides.

Water quality tests are now conducted routinely and regularly at many ocean pools.

Before air conditioning or backyard pools were common in Australia’s private homes, night bathing at public pools was a very popular activity on hot, humid summer nights.

Fear of sharks and rips limited the appeal of night surfing at the beaches, as lifesavers and lifeguards were only expected to patrol even the most popular surf beaches in daylight hours.

Electric light enabled night swimming, night competitions and night-time carnivals at the ocean pools and helped lifesavers get all the swim training they needed. Regular pool patrons were often stunned by the beauty of the illuminated ocean pools and commended the ‘artistic success’ of night carnivals.

Some purists nevertheless still feel that the pleasure of swimming in an unlit ocean baths at night is hard to beat. It’s a good time and place for skinnydipping.