NAC444.1952. Water slides: Flumes.

     1. Each flume of a water slide must be watertight. Its surfaces must be inert, nontoxic, smooth and easily cleaned.

     2. If a tube-type flume is used, it must be designed or ventilated to prevent a hazardous concentration of toxic disinfectant fumes under all circumstances of operation.

     3. All curves and turns in a flume must be:

     (a) Designed so that the impact of bathers with the walls of the flume does not present a hazard; and

     (b) Banked so that the forces on bathers keep them safely inside the flume under all foreseeable circumstances of operation. Bathers must not become airborne.

     4. In curved sections of a flume, the design of the wall of the flume must cause the outward thrust of the body of the bather to be dissipated towards the centerline of the flume.

     5. All slopes in a flume must be designed so that the speed of bathers does not reach a point at which a safe equilibrium of dynamic forces cannot be maintained on any curve or turn in the flume.

     6. In sections of a flume where bathers can stop, provision must be made by design or modification to prevent bathers from falling out of the flume.

     7. The construction, dimensions and methods of mechanical attachment of the components of a flume must provide a smooth and continuous surface through the entire length of the flume. Any misalignment of joints in a sectional flume must not exceed 1/8 inch (3.17 millimeters).

     8. The walls of any flume must be designed so that the continuous and combined action of hydrostatic, dynamic and static loads, as well as normal environmental deterioration, do not damage the flume bed to the extent of creating a structural failure that presents a hazard of injury to bathers or requires frequent patch repairs that may weaken the structural strength of the flume.

     (Added to NAC by Bd. of Health, eff. 11-1-88)