Swimming in a pool or spa without any sanitizer is like swimming with sharks. Life is full of risks. We need to manage those risks in our personal life plus protect the lives of our loved ones. Would you let your children swim in a pool with sharks? Of course you would not. Would you let your children swim in a pool without sanitizer such as chlorine or bromine?What is the risk of swimming in a pool of water without sanitizer? Just three words – recreational water illnesses (RWI). People can become ill or possibly die from exposure to microorganisms such as E.Coli, Giardia, Shigella, norovirus, cryptosporidium, and Legionella bacteria. Legionella bacteria can cause Pontiac Fever if the water is swallowed and Legionnaires' disease if water vapor is inhaled. Legionnaires' disease can be very serious and can cause death in 5% to 30% of cases. This fatality rate is higher than some Ebola viruses.According to the nature shows, sharks do not like the taste of people. They only bite people mistaking them for seals or their favorite prey. The chance of being attacked by a shark is 1 in 10,000,000 which are slightly better odd than winning a lottery. You have better odds to be struck by lightning -1 in 500,000 odds.What are the odds of acquiring RWI’s? I really do not know. Worldwide there is an average of 50 – 70 shark attacks on humans per year. There are thousands of cases of RWI per year in the United States. In 2005, up to 4000 people were exposed to cryptosporidium at a splash pad in New York State. In 2007, Utah saw 1,049 confirmed cases of cryptosporidium — an outbreak that has prompted health officials to ban children under 5 from public swimming pools. In 2008, all 29 public swimming pools in the city of Phoenix were closed down after cryptosporidium was detected at one pool.How do you protect yourself and loved ones from sharks and RWI’s? Visual inspection should be enough to determine if an inland body of water has sharks. But a visual inspection cannot determine if an inland body of water has RWI’s. Health official’s test water for RWI’s by growing cultures to determine if and what type of RWI’s are present but this process can take about 48 hours. The use of an approved pool water test kit such as Taylor or LaMotte can provide levels of sanitizer and pH immediately. Maintaining constant sanitizer levels is the best way to control and kill microorganisms which can best be achieved with a properly operating automatic chemical controller. .The Center For Disease Control recommends that the general public test all public bodies of water for sanitizer levels and pH. If the public brings to the owner’s and manager’s attention any low sanitizer levels, RWI’s will be minimized. I travel with Taylor K-1300 test strips that allow me to quickly test the water and color match the results. On a recent road trip to Branson, MO, I would not let my 8 year old son swim in a hotel pool without any sanitizer even though the water was clear and sparkling. I brought this to the attention to the front-desk manager. He quickly checked his pool water and equipment. The problem was a clogged chlorine feeder which was repaired.Was there a deadly microorganism in the water? I do not know. But, I am not willing to find out at my son’s expense or even another guest’s.Today, I was delivering chemicals to a hotel. On the pool room door was a sign that read “Caution – main drain covering missing”. Well, at least they were warning their customers. I ran to the front desk of the hotel. They called the hotel manager at home since I wanted the pool closed till a new cover was installed. The pool is now closed. What were the property owner, GM, and maintenance technician thinking by allowing the pool to remain open? Swimming with sharks.
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