Thank you for your inquiry, Bekki, and we hope you and everyone else potentially in Hurricane Irma’s way the best of luck and safe travels.

Should you drain your pool before the storm? No. You should NOT drain your pool. Although if you happen to have a steel outdoor bench lying around, it’d do you good to preserve that inside before a hurricane.

• If you have a concrete, plaster or fiberglass pool draining the pool will significantly reduce the pool’s weight and once the ground becomes saturated, as typically happens during hurricanes and continued torrential downpours, the pool could ‘float’ vertically out of the ground.
   
• If you vinyl liner pool draining the pool will significantly reduce the amount of water weight in the pool and once the ground becomes saturated, as typically happens during hurricanes and continued torrential downpours, not having enough down force pushing down on the pliable liner will allow water to push upward creating pockets or blisters on the pool’s bottom and/or walls.
   
• Draining pool water too far and allowing normally submerged surfaces to get exposed to the air may result in vinyl becoming brittle and other surfaces cracking or suffering other forms of damage — especially if exposed for periods of time greater than one would need to perform normal repairs or maintenance work.

In addition to the above, pool owners should also strongly consider:

• Turn of the power to the pool area (including pumps, motors, lighting, etc.) from the circuit breaker.
   
• Remove and safely store diving boards, slides and other exposed swimming pool hardware if possible.
   
• If you have a gas heater on your pool, safely disconnect the gas line from the heater and see if you can have your gas company discontinue service until the storm passes.
   
• Relocate or seal as best you can pool pumps and motors if flood waters could possibly reach them.
   
• Store all patio and pool furniture indoors.
   
• “Shock” your pool before leaving to discourage algae growth and deter insects from turning your pool into a breeding ground.

For those unfamiliar with the problem excess iron in pool water may cause...

• In high enough concentrations it will make pool water look VERY uninviting because it may give the water a brown, dark and/or otherwise unpleasant appearance.
   
• Iron may form sediments and stains when chlorine or other oxidizers get added to the pool water... and in the case of staining some of the iron stains may take on a permanent and certainly unwanted nature.

Does iron pose a health risk?  Not really, but again, iron in pool water may take on a really unpleasant appearance due to discoloration and the formation of sediment, solids and/or gross looking stains on pool surfaces.

To answer Lia's question directly, one should NOT attempt to replace traditional pool filter sand with other filtration substances (like Greensand which gets used to filter out unwanted water contaminants such as  iron, hydrogen sulfide and/or manganese).

Since Lia mentioned ferric iron covering the bottom of her pool, it sounds like whatever filtration option she chooses should include a  sediment pre-filter.  Taking out 'solids' (like ferric iron) before water hits the main filter helps to extend main filter life and efficiency.

We found additional recommendations for iron reduction and iron removal on the FilterWater.Com web site:

• To treat up to 3 ppm ferrous or ferric iron (metal iron), use of a filter such as the Pentek RFFE20-BB Iron Reduction Filter in a Big Blue 20x4.5 housing is suggested.
   
• If iron is above 3 ppm or if it is bacteria-based, use of an Iron and Hydrogen Sulfide Whole House System up to 15 ppm is suggested.
   
• If iron level is above 15 ppm, or for incoming water lines larger than 1", you should probably consider a Commercial Iron Removal System.

First Things First:  How Much Iron Does the Water Source Contain?

As with any water contamination situation, the removal/reduction method depends greatly upon the concentration and nature of the contaminant.  Always TEST YOUR WATER before investing in  a water filtration system... or run the risk of purchasing and installing the wrong products!

• First of all, repair any and all visible leaks right away. Even the smallest leak point can result in large amounts of water leaving a pool… and depending upon the location of the leak that runaway water could potentially erode the ground under your pool causing all sorts of other problems.
• Should your pool pump’s operating pressure rise by about 10 psi (pounds per square inch), clean the filters elements (fingers, cartridges, etc.) or backwash the system. Take care NOT to allow wash water or backwash water to run into a storm water drain, stream or other natural body of water.
• Warmer water will evaporate faster than cooler water so keeping your pool water temperature around 78 degrees Fahrenheit will make it pleasant to cool off in and less likely to evaporate.
• Increased wind over a pool’s surface also increases the evaporation rate so if possible, plant trees and shrubs around the pool to protect it from blowing winds. Just make certain not to plant anything that drops leaves, berries or other things that would wind up in the pool.
• Use of a solar cover to insulate the water in the evenings will help to reduce evaporation. Worried that you can’t get the cover on and off? Solar cover reels install easily on most pools and make moving solar covers easy enough for one person to do the job.
• This last one takes the heart of a lion, we admit: Discourage excess splashing of water out of the pool… if possible. Kids WILL be kids and cannonballs ARE fun (even for us adults!) but if conserving water is the goal, cutting back on the cannonballs will have to happen. 🙂

In short, swimming pools offer a wealth of fun in the sun (and after dark if the temperature stays right!) and keeping them running right and doing our best to reduce water loss comes as part of the package. Another part of the package involves safe, responsible use and disposal of the chemicals used to keep pools operating safely and cleanly. Have FUN in the pool, definitely, but try to keep the water and chemicals where they belong: In the pool.

Thank you, B.L., for your inquiry.  The  WaterWorks Total Hardness Test Strips (480008) CAN get used to test pool water.

Importance of Water Hardness in Swimming Pools

Pool owners should test for water hardness for several reasons including:

• Soft water (low hardness) can act in a corrosive manner and 'pull' elements out of pool surfaces resulting in liner damage and/or pitting of pool surfaces.
   
• Hard water (high hardness) will not allow other chemicals such as chlorine tablets and powders or pool water balancing chemicals to dissolve in the water.
   
• Very hard water may leave tough-to-remove calcium deposits on pool surfaces.
   
• Improper water hardness balance in pool water can result in other chemicals not functioning properly.

What is Difference Between Calcium Hardness and Total Hardness?

Total hardness readings include concentrations of calcium as well as magnesium where as calcium hardness readings include only dissolved calcium concentrations.

What is Considered Hard Water and What is Considered Soft Water?

For drinking water, tap water and well water purposes:

• Very Soft Water: 0 - 40 ppm total hardness
   
• Soft Water: 40 - 120 ppm total hardness
   
• Hard Water: 120 - 425 ppm total hardness
   
• Very Hard Water: Greater Than 425 ppm total hardness

Grains per Gallon vs. Parts per Million

Depending upon where you look, water hardness gets reported as grains per gallon (GPG) or parts per million (PPM).

To convert between the two measurements, simply divide your parts per million value by 17.5 to get grains per gallon or multiply your grains per gallon value by 17.5 to get parts per million.

If simply drained into the streets the water winds up in storm drains which lead sometimes lead to local waterways where the chlorine could cause serious harm to aquatic life.

Draining pool water into sanitary sewer systems — the same ones that handle waste water and toilet water — could cause those systems to get backed up since many do not have the ability to handle large volumes of water.

So… How should I dispose of pool water?

From what we have read, environmental experts and department of public works employees suggest allowing the pool water’s chlorine level to dissipate as much as possible before releasing water into the environment or storm water systems. Make sure to keep the pool water circulating with the pool’s pump/filter during the dissipation process since doing so should aid in making the chlorine dissipation process go a little faster.

How will I know when the chlorine level drops close to zero?

Simple dip-and-read test strips for TOTAL chlorine, not free chlorine, work well and your basic 5-drop OTO pool water test kits work well, too.

Q. Can I get a bacterial infection or get a virus from a public swimming pool or waterpark?  They have to have chlorine so I should be safe, right?"

A. Regrettably, not all public pools and water parks get the sort of proper maintenance they require.  Poorly maintained swimming pools and other water parks may contain dangerous levels of bacteria, viruses, and parasites that, for some people, may result in ear infections, colds, pneumonia, stomach illnesses, 

Before you jump in, check to see whether the pool looks clean (you should be able to see the bot­tom), the pump and filtration equipment are working (you should hear them humming), and the pool walls should not feel slimy.

Many public pools have publicly displayed water test results on chalkboards or dry erase boards that also tell the time of the last test.  As a general rule, chlorine levels should be around 1 to 3 parts per million and the water should have a pH between 7.2 and 7.8 ppm.

So... if all chemicals are at the correct levels I'm OK, right?

Again, and most regrettably, not always.  Some strains of bacteria and types of viruses can withstand chlorine attacks and may linger in pool water longer than we'd like them to.  That is why swimmers are advised to stay out of the water if they have had diarrhea or gastrointestinal problems recently.

And it goes without saying that NO ONE SHOULD EVER PEE IN THE POOL!

Swimming pool test kits CAN get used to test tap water, but most drinking water experts frown upon using them for that purpose. Typically your basic liquid reagent pool water test kits use OTO as the chlorine testing chemical and that chemical tests for total chlorine in rather non-precise increments.

Additionally, most pool water test kits use phenol red as the pH detection chemical with a detection range better suited for pool water that has a 'good' pH of between 7.2 and 7.8 whereas most water quality experts suggest keeping the pH of drinking water around 7.0.

What do we suggest?

In the Water Test Kit Store you will find a number of multi-parameter drinking water test kits such as the COMPLETE Water Test Kit or SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit which provide more precise water test results.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

Every swimming pool situation has its own unique twists, but the California Urban Water Conservation Council put together a list of water saving strategies that pretty much every pool owner should keep in mind:

• Use some sort of pool cover to slow down the evaporation rate — especially in the evenings when the air temperature can drop far below the water’s temperature — and potentially drop your water loss due to evaporation by as much as 30 percent.
   
• Fix and and ALL leaks in the pool as well as in its accompanying filter system. Small drops lost here and there can add up to large losses over time.
   
• OK, so no one really likes jumping into a frigid swimming pool (except those weird polar bear club members…), but keeping the water temperature from rising too high helps to reduce the evaporation rate since cooler water evaporates at a slower rate.
   
• Swimming pool fountains look beautiful and for those with waterfall features, well, those are even MORE beautiful (in our humble opinion)… but with the added beauty comes increased evaporation since aeration causes increased evaporation.
   
• No one we know has ever REALLY wanted to clean their swimming pool filters by hand, yes we know, but did you know that the average swimming pool backwash cycle can use hundreds of gallons and possibly a whole lot more depending on the size of the pool? Manually cleaning pool filter elements uses far less water.

Though located out in California and intending for their advice to reach local residents, the San Diego County Water Authority offers a number of resources that we feel could apply to residents from other areas, as well, on the following web site: www.WaterSmartSD.org.

We all know that improperly balanced pool water can cause eye irritation due to a low/high pH, low/high alkalinity, and/or too high a chlorine count, but what about a properly balanced swimming pool? Does that water cause harm in any way?

According to the article,

• The human eye has a natural protective barrier over it that helps protect it from infection by bacteria, parasites, etc. Chlorinated water removes that thin layer temporarily.
   
• Swimming pools disinfected with chlorine may have the correct amount of chlorine in them to effectively ward off ‘bugs’, as the author called them, but that same chlorine loses some of its efficacy if the pH or alkalinity has drifted out of acceptable range.
   
• The amount of bacteria and other unwanted pool water contaminants introduced by a high bather load (aka: lots of people in the pool at one time) may temporarily overwhelm the chlorine concentration’s ability to neutralize threats to swimmers — especially their eyes whose protective tear layers have temporarily gotten washed away.
   
• Contact lens wearers may want to pay special attention to pool water water quality and possibly take extra steps to flush out their eyes after a swim. Putting lenses back in one’s eyes possibly without rinsing traces of pool water out first may allow infectious, or simply unwanted, bacteria and/or parasites to get trapped between a contact lens and a person’s eye… where it could breed, grow and basically cause problems.
   
• The good news? A properly sized and well-fitting set of goggles can really help minimize an eyeball’s exposure to tear film erasing chlorinated water and opportunistic ‘critters’ that sometimes lurk in pool water — like, for example (and we did not know this, by the way)… ‘pink eye’.

The article also mentioned something in passing: Carrying a pool water test kit with you to the pool. Sure you may look like a science geek or some sort of paranoid parent at the neighborhood pool, but if the water turns out to not possess the right chemicals to keep you and your family safe, well, we think a little embarrassment goes a long way!

Moral of the story?

Swimming pool water, even in the best circumstances, temporarily wipes away a vital protective barrier that our eyes rely upon to keep them ‘safe’. Therefore it stands to reason that we ought to make certain our pool water has the right balance of water chemistry (testing pool water helps with this!) and use properly fitting eye protection whenever we go for a swim!

Oh, and… one more thing before we go: At the beginning of each swimming season and each time a pool gets filled up or topped off with fresh water from a well or spigot, make sure to test the quality of the fill water for things like metals, hardness, alkalinity, pH, etc.

Why? Because just like in the world of computer programming, “Garbage in, garbage out!”

For your pool that means if you add water that has some water quality issues to begin with, then your pool water will have water quality issues, too.

“Can any amount of copper in pool water color your hair and skin green? If so is there an antidote for this? Thanks—-Gary.”

The simple answer

Yes, the copper in pool water does play a part in the creation of a greenish tint in a person’s hair. We do not know about the greenish tint to skin, though.

The more complex answer

Slight concentrations of copper in pool water may play a part in the formation of a green tint in a person’s hair, yes, but most of the blame should get aimed at the pool water’s chlorine concentration.

The chlorine oxidizes copper (and other metals) which then become attached to various exposed proteins in human hair. Once attached, oxidized copper has the opportunity to impart its greenish color directly into the hair’s root.

Low copper concentrations in water lacking oxidizers like chlorine, or containing extremely low concentrations of chlorine or bromine, typically will not affect a person’s hair color — hence many of the ‘safe for hair’ claims made by alternate sanitizer systems that use biguanides or ionized minerals (with very, very low chlorine levels).

Source(s) of copper in pool water?

Typically a concentration of copper in pool water results from one of three sources:

1. Source water used to fill the pool — Copper occurs naturally in many well water sources and so it stands to reason that if you fill your pool with well water, you may want to test for minerals (like copper) before adding chlorine.

   Those of you using municipal (i.e. city water, hydrants — with help of fire department, of course!) water sources should also test for the presence of dissolved metals in the pool water before adding chlorine. Why? Because most municipalities use metal service lines to get water to your home and as water passes through those lines it sometimes picks up little bits of the metals it comes in contact with.

2. Chemicals used to kill/prevent algae — Most people refer to chemicals that help to prevent and/or kill algae as algaecides (also spelled algicides apparently)… a good number of the ones commonly sold online and in pool stores these days contain traces of copper that could cause a problem if used too frequently or if used in larger than suggested amounts.

   When used according to direction, most algaecides that contain copper will not impart enough copper in the water to cause a problem since ‘splash out’ (water splashed out of the pool during use) removes copper slowly and subsequent refilling of the pool with fresh water dilutes the copper levels.

3. Pool equipment — And finally, swimming pool and hot tub heaters will normally contain copper heating elements that will, over time, add trace amounts of copper to the water they heat. This process accelerates greatly when the pool or spa water pH balance gets low and the water becomes acidic. Water with a lower pH tends to have corrosive tendencies.

So now that you know what happens to make hair turn green, naturally, as Gary did, you will want to know ways to possibly prevent it from happening, right?

• Healthy, properly conditioned hair stands a better chance of resisting the coloring effects of oxidized metals. Some experts have suggested shampooing and conditioning one’s hair prior to going swimming.
   
• Most people already know that it makes a lot of sense to wash one’s body and hair thoroughly right after getting out of the pool. Doing so reduces the amount of time the pool water’s disinfectants — and other sometimes not-so-healthy components — have to affect skin and hair.
   
• ‘Damaged’ hair makes for an easy target. Split ends, dyed hair, bleached hair, and otherwise unhealthy hair makes an excellent receptor for unintended hair dyes like oxidized metals.
   
• Limiting the amount of time that one spends with soaked hair may also help. Rather than allowing the warm sun to dry your hair you may want to dry it as best you can with a towel when you get out of the pool.

In most cases a person probably ought not have too many problems with hair turning colors as long as the water they swim in contains a proper water quality balance and their hair does not have pre-existing conditions that would make it more susceptible to attack by oxidized metals.

One will not KNOW, however, if the water in a pool ‘too much of this or too little of that’ unless… they test the water.

The following products should make testing source water as well as actual pool water for dissolved metals a quick and painless process:

• Heavy Metals Check — Great way of determining if water contains any dissolved metals at all. Will not tell what metals it detects, if it detects any, but it will alert you to the presence of dissolved metals at concentrations as low as 10ppb (parts per billion). Perfect for testing source water.
   
• John’s Copper Test — Detects ONLY copper in a water sample. Low detection limit of 0.5ppm (parts per million) and an ideal, easy method for testing source water.
   
• Total Iron Visual Test — Fast, accurate method for determining total iron concentrations in a water sample.Low detection limit of 0.3ppm (parts per million).
   
• Pool Check Copper — Designed to test for dissolved copper levels down to 0.2ppm (parts per million) as well as a water sample’s pH and total alkalinity. Great tool to have in anyone’s pool maintenance kit who has a heater on their pool, uses algaecides that contain copper, or suspects their pool’s source water may contain copper.

Got more questions about dissolved metals in pool water or drinking water? Feel free to drop us a line using our online Contact Us Form.