Balneotechnics

the division of sanitary engineering which uses the data of balneology to create conditions for protecting mineral waters against depletion and contamination and to develop methods of using them most effectively for prophylactic and therapeutic purposes.

Balneotechnics includes the designing and building of structures to ensure the delivery of mineral waters from wells and underground catch basins to the places where they are used (bath buildings, taprooms, and galleries) with their physicochemical properties preserved. Balneotechnics also involves the installation of devices and instruments for the transportation, pumping, storage, heating, and cooling of mineral waters, as well as the designing and making of instruments, apparatus, and structures for carrying out balneological procedures (filling and emptying baths, washing glasses and mugs in taprooms and galleries and delivering them to patients, supplementary carbonation and decarbona-tion of mineral waters, and so on). The tasks of balneotechnics also include extracting and transporting medicinal mud from its place of deposit and heating it without changing its natural medicinal properties.

Because of the chemical activity of most mineral waters and muds, materials not subject to corrosion in mineral waters and not affecting their composition are used in the construction of any balneological structure. Such materials include asbestos cement, glass, ceramic, faolite, and polyethylene piping; sulfate-resistant cements for reservoirs; and silumin and polyethylene fittings for pipelines.