Party Time at Your Pool!

Swimming Pool Parties

Swimming pool parties are another situation that can negatively impact your pool's disinfection program. If you are going to host a pool party, it is going to be to your advantage to move the amount of chlorine in your pool up to 4 ppm, and lower the pH down to 7.2. At the 4 ppm level, your guests may be able to notice the slight odor of chlorine. Well, don't feel sorry for them, because by the time the party's over, most of that chlorine is going to be gone. Why?, because, they all are going to be peeing in your pool. Sorry to have to break this to you, but adults as well as children, will all use your pool as a toilet. If you don't believe me, give them some ice cold beer to drink (adults only) and just watch how often your friends get up out of the pool to use the john!

Now, don't get too upset with them. Urine is generally bacteria free. The kidneys do a good job at filtering out that stuff, and no one is going to get sick swimming through everyone else's pee. However, the pool's chlorine is going to get busy and change all that urea into a combined chlorine. Combined chlorines are compounds that are chemically similar to tear gas, compounds that after a period of time, will begin to stink and burn your eyes. Otherwise, urinating in a pool is not a big deal. Combined chlorines can be later super chlorinated out of existence.

Now poop is another matter. On average everyone carries around with them several grams of poop on their anus. Thats' a given, and unless you make all your guests use baby wipes, or force them to take a shower, (with the very socially acceptable suggestion to wash their behinds), those guests are going to have very clean bottoms by the time your pool party is over, and like I mentioned in another post or two, that poop is fifty percent bacteria.

What to do? Well, like I said before, raise your chlorine level up to 4 ppm and have the pH set at 7.2. You better test the water every hour or so also, to ensure that those values stay put. Add more chlorine if necessary. This is where I like liquid chlorine, just slowly pour a pint or so into the skimmer while the pool is running to tweak the chlorine level. The pH shouldn't need to be adjusted, if you have followed along with what was suggested in the previous posts. The other thing you can do to minimize poop problems is limiting the number of guests at your party to the smallest possible number.

In spa party situations, it is totally absurd. I would never get into a spa with a crowd of people, in fact I avoid spas altogether. With the exception of a spa that is attached to a pool, I do not believe that they can be made sanitary. The load is just too great for the related small volume of water, you are therefore, taking a glorified communal bath with friends/or strangers, without soap! Yuk! In a spa attached to a swimming pool, where there is a flow of water from the pool through the spa, things here are different. The total volume of water and disinfectant that is available for that spa is sufficient. But let's get back to pool parties.

If you are having a pool party for children and/or adults, and you notice a piece of poop floating on the surface or drifting around, you will need to have all the children and any adults leave the pool immediately. Better safe than sorry here, no one wants to hear about a child that got sick at your party! So everyone out of the pool! The pool will have to be super chlorinated for a few hours to kill off all of the resulting bacteria that is introduced into the water in this scenario. If you remember from an earlier post, this is standard operating procedure in a commercial or public swimming pool setting.


Roof Overhangs

Another negative impactor on your disinfection program: From time to time, I have come across pools that have been built either too close to the home, or have had a roof extended too far into the pool area. This is understandable, because in some backyards the usable space is limited. It may have been a couple of months since the last rain and the roof will be dirty. When the summer monsoon starts, all that dirt will be washed off into the pool. This will cause an increase in the demand for chlorine and if that chlorine is not there, a green algae bloom can occur and even if the pool remains clear, it may be unsanitary. The solution here is to put up a rain gutter along the edge of the roof, or at least along the area of the roof that is next to the pool. Due to the arid climate here in the Sonoran desert, rain gutters are not normally a part of the roof system.

This completes the sanitation portion of this blog. This sanitation section will be augmented from time to time with more text and photos. The next post will begin the filtration discussion. As you may remember, that is the the subject in the lower right hand corner of our imaginary Golden Triangle.