Water sprays are sometimes used as a means of mitigating accidental releases of chlorine gas. This paper gives results of a series of small-scale experimental field tests on the mitigation of chlorine gaseous releases (about 1 kg/min) by various downward water sprays. The releases were from a cylinder of liquefied chlorine located in a storage shed. The shed could be configured to simulate confined and semi-confined installations used at public swimming pools. The water sprays were located in the shed. During these tests, different types of spray nozzles and storage configurations were tested under various atmospheric conditions, in order to select the best water spray. It was shown that the best chlorine downstream concentration reduction (factor 3-5 at 10 m) was achieved with a flat fan water spray for the semi-confined configuration. Poor absorption in water was observed (< 1%). The highest absorption (roughly 5%) was obtained with a fog water spray for the confined configuration. This is expected since chlorine is a low soluble gas. It has been evidenced for the confined configuration, that even if reduction of concentration has been observed (factor 2), downstream concentration remains very high (> 10,000ppm), and above critical level of toxicity. Consequently, the use of water sprays in this case without additives to promote absorption seems to be inefficient. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.