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We are ready to ACTIVATE Uptown
Posted on: July 10, 2024
When water becomes so cloudy that we can’t see the bottom of the pool, Allegheny County requires us to close for safety reasons. We are doing everything we can to reduce or eliminate this problem. We appreciate your patience. We understand your frustration and we want to be open about the problems we have experienced.
Why is the water cloudy?
The simple answer is our filtration system is not sufficient to handle the daily volume of people using the pool.
This hasn’t happened before; what is different this year?
We can’t be certain of every variable, but there are a couple differences we are aware of. The first is that a staff member made a mistake while cleaning the filters on May 26 that allowed a large amount of filter media (diatomaceous earth) to flow into the swimming pool. It made the water very cloudy and we needed to close the facility on May 27 to clean it. This filter media (DE) is likely settled in various places in the plumbing and filtration system, causing continued cloudy water today. The second difference this year is that our automatic vacuum cleaners are struggling to work on the uneven pool floor that has developed undulations from expansion and contraction over time. We plan to fix the floor during the off season.
What are you doing to solve this problem?
We are working on the things that affect water quality that we can control: cleaning filters when necessary, maintaining good water chemistry, and vacuuming the pool by hand when possible. We also implemented a series of short adult swims and safety breaks to give the filters a chance to catch up. We are also talking with pool professionals and engineers to see if there are other steps we can take now, and we are discussing replacement of the filtration system. We are also discussing limiting attendance to just residents and passholders, up to a maximum number of people per day.
Other pools are open, why isn’t Mt. Lebanon?
Many factors determine water quality: the number of swimmers, the size of the filtration system, turnover rates, hours of operation and other factors. We can’t speak to the operation of other facilities. We can only comment on our own unique circumstances.
Why are you blaming it on sunscreen?
We have never said that sunscreen is the only problem. Sunscreen is a contributing factor to cloudy water, particularly when not applied properly. Using sunscreen responsibly is one way patrons can help keep the water clearer. Aerosol sunscreens are more of a problem because they are easily applied to wet skin. Allowing proper drying time of lotions before swimming also helps.
You have given rain checks to walk-ins when you close. What about passholders?
We are working on a plan to help compensate for lost time at the pool. We will let passholders know what is decided.
We can see in the shallow end. Why can’t you just close the diving well area where you can’t see the floor?
Allowing swimmers to remain in an area adjacent to the diving well when we can’t see the floor would be unsafe. A swimmer could go under water undetected by lifeguards and drift to the bottom of the pool where they would remain unseen. Pools are not permitted to close cloudy areas but keep other areas open to the public. An exception in the code allows pools to reduce the number of lifeguards required by closing a section of the pool, but there is no exception in the code to the requirement that all water in a bathing place must be sufficiently clear to easily see the bottom in the deepest portion of the pool.
We will provide updates as additional information is available.
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We are ready to ACTIVATE Uptown