We Don’t Swim in your Toilet – PLEASE Don’t [Combined Chlorine] in our Pool!
By Tracy Lawrence
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was 1982. A group of middle school kids swam the perimeter of a friend’s pool, laughing, “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” pumping through a boom box, a common goal:
“LET’S MAKE A WHIRLPOOL!”
As the water in the pool began to circulate, so did an interesting rumor:
“If you pee, the water will change color, and everyone will know!”
Almost 20 years later, the Urban Legend of a magical, color changing, urinator shaming potion is still swirling in whirlpools everywhere…
I am here to tell you, once and for all,
and I hate to crush your dreams, like finding out the Tooth Fairy doesn’t exist,
neither does this chemical.
I know. I’m sad, too.
How do I know it doesn’t exist? The answer to that question will be left as a multiple guess:
a) I searched the world over for this color changing pool chemical
b) I took the rumored warning as incentive, tested the waters: no cloud.
c) I have yet to see a cloud of dye around anyone in a pool in 51 years on the planet, leading me to conclude that such a chemical does not exist
c) all of the above
The correct answer to that question is….
Irrelevant.
But what IS relevant is that there are people who *gag* pee in your pool.
We cannot single those swimmers out with magical dye. But what we can single out are the chloramines in your water when we do a water test. Chloramines happen when chlorine holds onto things like bacteria and bodily fluids, and when it’s doing that, it’s not cleaning your water.
Shocking, right?
The solution is also Shocking.
Let this blog be your incentive to make shocking weekly a priority because it is the way to get your combined chlorine to let go of the bad stuff and get back to work sanitizing your pool.
You’re never going to put off shocking again, are you?
Good.
My work here is done.
Now get out there and enjoy that sanitary pool!
