POWER 25
• 2010 Power 25: Reinventors
It’s a crucial moment for aquatics. Here’s a look at who’s changing the game, for good!
• 2009 Power Forces
The current economic crisis is likely to shape much of what happens in 2009. We’ve asked past Power 25 honorees to weigh in on how it might affect aquatics — and what professionals can do to weather the storm.
He’s never held a political office, but you can still call Jim Dingman a rule maker. As a lead regulatory engineer at Underwriters Laboratories, an independent product safety testing and certification agency, Dingman is responsible for writing and evaluating regulations and standards that deal with environmental health. This includes anything related to public swimming pools.
He is also chair of the Disinfection and Water Quality Technical Committee for the Model Aquatic Health Code project.
“I liked the idea of being a regulator,” Dingman says.
A 13-year veteran at the Northbrook, Ill.-based company, Dingman got his start serving on the Environmental and Public Health Council, a sounding board and advisory committee. At that time he was at Colorado’s Tri-County Health Department in the Denver area. While at T-CHD, he chaired the swimming pool team, helped update Colorado’s state pool codes, and became a certified pool operator and CPO instructor.
It was the possibility of having a uniform, nationwide code rather than a number of widely varying state codes that drew Dingman to want to be involved with the MAHC.
The Disinfection and Water Quality Technical Committee that he leads is responsible for evaluating all of the chemicals and processes that pertain to actual disinfection and water quality parameters, such as combined chlorine levels or total alkalinity, Dingman explains.
“My role as chair is to make sure we adequately address all of the different water quality parameters and, if possible, come to a consensus,” he adds. “When we’re not in consensus, we go by majority, although this is a rare occurrence.”