Improvements make Valley pools cleaner, safer

Young Voices, by Whitney Bostick

"Welcome to OOL: notice there is no P in it," is a quote from signs seen at Mat-Su Borough Pools. While one can hope that the quote is true, no pool is 100 percent safe, but there are chemicals to help clean the water. Some chemicals used in pool systems could be very dangerous, and could result in accidents similar to what happened at Alaska Pacific University's pool on Sept. 27. However the Mat-Su Borough pool chemicals have been changed so accidents as tragic as APU's could not happen here.

The change in the pool system involved switching to dry materials. John Duffy, borough manager said, "We have changed the way that chlorine is introduced into the system. We have changed to using dry materials." The changes were introduced during an annual maintenance for the pools. At the Wasilla Pool the changes took four weeks, and for the Palmer Pool they took five weeks (there was more work needed to be done at Palmer's Pool than Wasilla's). These life-saving changes were not inexpensive. "For both pools the cost was $188,000," according to Community Development Director Ron Swanson.

Before these changes, an emergency evacuation plan had been adopted. The emergency response team was alerted to the chemicals that were in the pool. The pool employees were told which procedures to take in case of an accident.

While this new system is safer, there are two other possibilities to clean water in a pool, magnets and ozone systems. Both promote water clarity, reduction of chemical costs and longer pool life. The ozone system, ClariPure System, was advertised under Chlorfree Pool and Waters Systems Inc., so the reduction in chemical cost would be the result of no longer adding chlorine and the other pool chemicals. As long as the pool pump is operational it was said that the "powerful combination of oxidants, disinfectants and algaecides" are continuously produced. Ozone is a naturally occurring form of oxygen molecule. Rather than two oxygen per molecule ozone contains three. Ozone has a very short life span. During ozone's short life span it is 52 percent stronger and 3,125 times faster in water than chlorine as a disinfectant. The system works by an ozone generator, then that ozone is dissolved in water by an ozone dissolution chamber, patented by ClariPure. That process gives ozone the opportunity to achieve its highest potential to attack waterborne organic compounds and contaminants. The ozone clarified water then travels through the ClariPure cell. In the ClariPure cell new forms of disinfectant algaecide are produced. The final product is odorless, chloramines free water. Therefore, no more eye or skin irritation from the chloramines in the water.

Another water treatment method that reduces chemicals by 60 percent is magnets. The magnets produce "energized water." The magnets organize the molecules giving the water a collective positive charge. "This physically changes the water, making it behave for use in a pool or spa." The energized water makes bromine, chlorine and other pool chemicals mix more completely and effectively. The magnet keeps the water clean by creating that positive charge, and that positive charge pulls "debris into the body of the water, allowing them to coagulate in the filter."

The changes made at Palmer and Wasilla pools were steps to improving the pools to be safer to maintain and utilize. As the pool and spa industry's technology upgrades, there will be safer and cleaner ways like the magnet and ozone systems. Thank you Mat-Su Borough, for making pools safer.

Whitney Bostick is a junior at Palmer High School