Emergency services were called out to reports of a chemical incident at Glenwood High School on Saturday.

They discovered that a member of staff had accidentally mixed chemicals used for cleaning the swimming pool.

That pool chemicals are extremely dangerous is so often forgotten. I have come across numerous incidents of explosions, vapor discharges or wild, out of control reactions due to the mixing of different pool chemicals. Possibly the most frightening and perhaps the easiest mix to “accidently” make is the combination of dichlor and calcium hypo with some water added to it.

In pools where the chlorine needs to be predissolved and the pool operator mixes some dichlor and cal hypo in the same bucket, the resulting explosion and thick pungent cloud of yellow “mustard gas” is horrifying to witness. The gas explodes upwards in a typical mushroom shape. Thankfully, people unfortunate enough to be nearby when it all goes bang generally remain below the cloud of gas.

The pool is 3,324 feet long and has an area of almost 20 acres. It holds 660,000 gallons of water heated to 79°F in the warmer months. With a depth of up to 115 feet it is hard to think of as a swimming pool.

Photos show rowboats, sailboats and windsurfers using the pool. The construction company claim a “patented process (that) eliminates traditional filtration and uses up to 100 times less chemical products”.

Seems too good to be true.
Visit the resort’s site

Visit a neighbor.

Hotels are an option as are health centers.

Get an above ground pool.

End of test post.

What do you test?

How often do you check the basic chemical levels?

How often do you balance the pool water chemistry?

Do you prefer drops or tablets?

Why do you prefer that?

This was just a test post, please ignore it.