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.

If what we just said had no validity, why would this phrase exist: “Don’t you go where the Huskies go and don’t you eat that yellow snow!”

Contact with possible sources of contaminants like dog urine mean possible exposure to bacteria and germs which may cause serious, possibly fatal harm to humans. Public swimming pools offer the same level of risk, only without the dog urine — substitute human urine (and more) instead. Need proof? 1 in 5 adults admits peeing in swimming pools

And a desperate cry arises from the masses: “Wait! Chlorine! That kills everything!”

Yes, chlorine has a definite disinfecting a sanitizing effect on water. Hence the reason so many public water systems rely upon it as their primary disinfectant. The USEPA has ruled that a public water supply may not contain more than 4.0 parts per million free chlorine OR total chlorine ( what’s the difference between free and total chlorine? ) for chlorine and yet swimming pools may contain levels FAR in excess of that. Ahem: See bleached hair, bleached swimming suit, bleached skin, etc.

Will the levels of chlorine in a swimming pool harm you? Most likely not in so long as a pool professional or private pool owner properly maintains the water chemical balance. Doing so requires diligent and proper use of Pool & Spa Water Test Kits AND taking corrective action once detecting an imbalance in the water.

Getting back to the differences in typical chlorine levels in pool water compared to typical chlorine levels in drinking water, though, most people tend not to like or enjoy the taste of pool water when accidentally ingested because of its unpleasant taste and odor. As a general rule, swimming pools tend to have between 1.0 and 3.0 parts per million free/total chlorine ( what’s the difference between free and total chlorine? ) … and as a general rule, most drinking water comes out of the tap at around 0.5 ppm or less — some exceptions will always exist.

For that reason the test kits for pools and spas have much less sensitivity and the color blocks start at higher concentrations than those typically found in drinking water test kits. As an example, the SenSafe Free Chlorine Water Check test strips for drinking water have a low color block of just 0.05 parts per million and several other blocks leading up to 0.5 parts per million, the lowest color block on the Aquacheck 7-Way Test Strips for pool water testing.