GoFloat Studios on Pearl Street Closed After a Halton Public Health Order

GoFloat Studios, the float therapy spa at 390 Pearl St. in downtown Burlington, has closed. Halton Public Health shut the business down on Tuesday, July 14 after an investigation found the system disinfecting its tank water did not meet provincial standards.

The order cited two breaches of the Health Protection and Promotion Act: a lack of disinfectant in the water, and no emergency communication device on the premises. A regional spokesperson said the disinfection system in use presented a potential risk of infectious disease transmission, and that Ontario Regulation 565 requires floatation tanks to use chlorine, a chlorine compound, a bromine compound, or another method Public Health has approved.

Owner Geoffrey Liang argues the rules do not fit the service. Float tanks hold water with roughly the salt concentration of the Dead Sea, which makes it hard for microorganisms to survive, and GoFloat also ran ozone and UV disinfection. He says chlorine reacts with the Epsom salts and turns the water brown, while bromine takes a long time to dissolve.

The requirements were tightened in January of this year, and Liang says the business had eight years without a health and safety issue before the change. GoFloat applied for an exemption when the new rules were announced and was denied. The owners decided not to appeal, citing the financial strain it would add.