Filed as: South Dakota Department of Health - Office of Health Protection
Lodging establishments in South Dakota that want to operate biological filtration pools—which use plants and natural filtration instead of chemical disinfectants—must now obtain a $50 annual permit from the Department of Health and comply with detailed design, construction, and operational standards. The rules require specific infrastructure like separate bathrooms and showers, slip-resistant decks, proper circulation systems that complete a full water turnover within 12 hours, and weekly testing for bacteria and other contaminants by an EPA-certified lab. Operators must maintain detailed daily logs of water quality, visitor counts, and maintenance activities, keep the regeneration zone (the planted filtration area) healthy, and immediately close the pool if dangerous conditions develop like high bacteria levels or loss of water clarity. Facilities that fail inspection cannot reapply for a permit for one year.
AI-generated from the proposed rule text — verify against the official documents.
The proposed rules create design, construction, and operational standards for biological filtration pools in accordance with HB 1299 of the 2026 legislative session.
No specific cites listed — see the package documents.
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