Contaminated Golf Irrigation Water in our Pool
 

Hi,
At just after 7am this morning, TV was watering the golf course and a huge jet of water was shooting into our pool.

When we contacted TV about it at Bonifay Country Club they sent a guy, who first of all didn't believe it was watering on our property and then had the cheek to say it normally happens around midnight or one o'clock, as if, if we didn't see it, it was ok 😈😈

We have often seen moisture on our birdcage in the mornings, but just assumed it was condensation from the night air, now we realise we, our friends and relatives, including our Grandchildren have been swimming in CONTAMINATED WATER - probably for the last THREE Years - NOT Good enough!

[ATTACH]Attachment 59017[/ATTACH]

I think TV should try out their golf course sprinklers every few months during the day at a publicised time, so that everyone on a golf course can see whether their home has been polluted by this filthy water.

Yikes! I've wondered just how polluted that water is and even if it is safe for wildlife swimming in it let alone grandchildren. Keep us informed. It must be a huge oversight.

Junction29,
You might want to have your pool water tested for the level of pollution (if any), and determine what needs to be done to clean of the water if necessary. This would be beyond the normal test that the technician would do on a weekly basis. You may need to take a sample to a laboratory.

Since the irrigation water is NON potable you really have no idea what is in there. Also, I suspect the typical pool filtering system is not setup to handle this type of water.

I agree that you have a concern, and testing the pool water will give you some facts to discuss with the offender.

Hope this helps, and keep us informed on what happens.

If no one became sick and they changed the sprinkler right away then all is well. Right? Have the people swimming in your pool had skin infections, diarrhea, vomiting, eye infections over the past years?


I would call T&D and ask them if this is dangerous. If anyone knows pool biochemistry it would be them.

Good point
 

Thank you, very good point.

We will get the water quality tested.

Update.

As we said earlier, we reported it and we are happy to give credit where it's due and they have already been, adjusted the head and switched it on to try it so that we could see the result.

It is fine now and misses our property by quite a margin.

However, the point I made in the first post is still valid.

The irrigation engineer did say to me this morning that sometime the gears shift and the head moves its direction of aim!

If the heads are active in the early hours, several or many people could be having their property and pools contaminated and no-one would know !!!!!!

That cannot be acceptable.

Where do we go and who do we see to get a system implemented that allows residents on golf courses to check that their property is not being contaminated?

Not quite
 

Hi Gracie,
Sorry, but I have to disagree, just because someone does not show signs of sickness does not mean they have not been infected with some slow developing problem.

I am not trying to scaremonger, but this needs addressing before it damages someone, not after.

The point you make about our own property sprinklers is, with respect, not valid either.

These golf course sprinklers emit huge amounts of water at around 100psi., which gives a far larger volume of contaminant than yourhouse sprinklers do in a very short space of time and I would be very surprised if anyone with a pool has a sprinkler head near it.

The only good point about this incident is the speed of response and solution, which was excellent.

As another poster said have your pool water checked and I think it should be paid for by whomever is responsible. Contact a lawyer for a free consultation if necessary.

It is NOT alright that this happened and I would be as concerned as you are.

Are you kidding????? Unbelievable comment!!!

Yea you should have your water tested to be on the safe side. You do have chemicals in it. What I see as strange we're worried about your pool water with probably over 10K gallons of water in it but yet people walk on all the grass in TV even barefooted, walk their dogs and cats on all the grass including the golf courses,let their animals drink out of the puddles along the curbs,let their grand kids play in the sand traps with their toys and not think one bit about it. FYI the sprinklers are checked on a regular basis and believe me they find a lot of issues from broken to misdirected and missing. But thanks for the warning.

Definitely, it is most important to have an independent laboratory check water samples from your pool - and quickly, too.

As for having the testing paid for by "whomever is responsible", just wait for the test results. The testing is for your peace of mind and cannot cost too much. If there is contamination shown to be of the same kind as in the irrigation water, then call an attorney.

Main thing - get the water tested quickly!

Don't waste time or money testing water, you would need to test for a zillion contaminants.

Pump all the water out of the pool, yes I know it's big, but must be done.

Refill, do regular chemicals.

That water is the most contaminated water that can possibly be exposed to a swimming environment.

All your swimming pool filters also been to changed including any sand filters

TV must reimburse you for all expensive.

This is really bad.......

.

We also have a in ground pool. We have a salt filter and have our water tested with the pool company regularly.....they tell us what the water needs..acid...ph....additional chlorine...ect.

With this information, I am attempting to hopefully calm your nerves. Supposedly the pool pump filters the water at amazing rates. Our pool is sometimes discolored and after we shock it, by the next day the water is crystal clean...

So, hopefully your pool pump acts the same and your grandchildren and yourselves are fine......but....I would still take it to a water testing company just to make sure....best of luck....

Dumping your pool is not a good idea......it has to be done by a professional since the pool can pop up/out without the water weight, plus the price of the refilling of water....?????....test the water.....first...

I have been doing water chemistry for many years there are way too many test that are possible, and cost hundreds of dollars.

A pool company only tests very basic items none of which relate to the possible health issues in that contaminated water.

Do you know there are junk cars in that aquifer?


empty/refill/new filters ask TV to pay that and the water bill plus the pool service.

all of that would be less money than testing for everything, be mindful can any la really test for everything..............answer no.

If not too much of a financial burden, empty pool, professionally clean, refill. And I would invoice somebody, but don’t know who.

The problem is some diseases have incubation periods of months to years. The golf course made an honest mistake, doesn’t mean there isn’t a consequence to that mistake.

TV will have to pay!
 

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all your advice.

I think on balance it will have to be emptied, cleaned, filters changed and refilled and I will expect TV to pay for their mistake.

On reflection I still think that my idea of regular daytime testing is necessary.

Some Reassurance
 

If I were in your situation my first step would be to ask The Villages management what action they proposed to take to reassure me that the water in my pool was safe for human contact.

I would also want to know the source of the water used to irrigate the golf course; is it from retention ponds, or is it semi-processed "grey water?"

Before considering using the pool I would give it a chlorine shock treatment followed by testing for residual chlorine and total chlorine. More about this in a moment.

The reason for the shock treatment is that chlorine will kill the bacteria which might be in the pool. Chlorine is the chemical of choice for processing drinking water throughout our nation.

When the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers go to the sites of hurricanes, floods, or other places where the safety of the water is in question, they set up their own water filtration systems. They systems are basically physical filters for the larger material that can be filtered out with a final treatment of chlorine. I have seen this done, but have not actually taken the training.

I have extracted the following from the Oklahoma Baptist Water Purification Manual: Chlorine has been universally accepted as an excellent disinfectant by public utility authorities. Chlorine kills rather than removes bacteria. The chlorine burns the bacteria and requires a contact time to accomplish this process. Recommended chlorine injection into drinking water will range between 4 and 8 ppm, (U.S. public utility water usually has 1 to 2 ppm). Water that has been chlorinated should be allowed to sit for at least 30 minutes before being used for drinking.

The portable system uses other elements in addition to the physical filter and chlorine, but they are major elements. You can read the entire manual at http://www.okdisasterhelp.org/wp-con...2008-03-17.pdf

Chlorine is a powerful chemical. The Centers for Disease Control says that chlorine in a swimming pool kills the HIV virus.

I mention all of this just to give you a measure of reassurance that perhaps your pool filtration system has kept you safe in the past. As Gracie pointed out, if no one has become ill, that might be an indication that the contamination has been handled.

Regarding the testing after chlorination, this is from the Manual: Chlorine has been universally accepted as an excellent disinfectant by public utility authorities. Chlorine kills rather than removes bacteria. The chlorine burns the bacteria and requires a contact time to accomplish this process. The remaining chlorine after “burning” bacteria is called “free chlorine”. When testing the output of the water purification unit, the free chlorine and total chlorine should be the same, indicating no bacteria in the water. Commercially available water quality test strips (litmus strips) are provided from swimming pool supply stores. Follow the instructions on the bottle of test strips. Test strips should be kept in their original container, which should be kept closed before and after use.

I will be interested in what assurances The Villages offers.

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief
 

As a brief addition to my post, you will note in the Water Purification Manual, it is considered acceptable to have a water source that is a pond covered with scum (algae), which might or might not describe the retention pond that your golf course irrigation is drawn from.

Over this three year period, how much pool water have you and your grandchildren drank?

At the risk of having my head chopped off - may I ask a question. My understanding is the golf courses are watered with water from the retention ponds throughout The Villages evidenced by the fact when flooding is a threat they run the sprinklers to lower the pond. Assuming that is the water that went into your pool - how would this be any different then swimming in a pond or lake which has no chlorine treating the water?

I swam in lakes before,I'm still here.A small pool has about 14,000 gallons of water I doubt that maybe a gallon or two went in the pool so that leaves 13,098 gallons of clean water I don't think you would have to drain the pool.What about rain that's non potable.

Before all of you yappers keep jumping on gracie girl for her comment, I believe when she asked "right"? she was doing that with sarcasm.

I thought I was the worst worrier I had ever met.

And yet another unbelievable comment.

I think the irrigation water for homes south of 466 is reclaimed/grey water versus the TV common property, which is retention pond supplied. A friend living in Buttonwood? has a filter on his irrigation water supply because it is slimy.

I believe TV management will want a sample of the water and want to know the extent of the contamination, if any, before they would authorize the costs of emptying, refilling and new filter's. So before you empty the pool, check with management to see what they might require.

Wrong.

Toss a gallon of Clorox in the pool and stay out of it for a few days until you can't smell the chlorine or until your pool guy tells you the chlorine level is safe.

(that's how municipal water tanks and pipelines are decontaminated but with more or less chlorine)

.

I would ask your pool tech and the pool installer for advice as to what your options are. If they aren't sure, they can find out for you.

Not Potable
 

Hi all,

Once again thank you for all your comments and to answer a few points raised.

If you look very carefully at the picture I posted, you will see that the sprinkler head is aiming DIRECTLY into our pool and as these things are like water cannons, then we are talking about a lot of gallons of water every minute that it is on!

As we are now fairly sure that this has been going on for months, if not years then collectively, we are talking hundreds if not thousands of gallons of unsafe water going into the pool, that we, family and friends use to swim in.

The normal tests that are done for normal pool checking DO NOT check for the range of contaminants that could potentially be in this water and for TV to test the water for the full range of possibilities to our satisfaction, would cost several thousands of dollars, far more expensive than emptying the water, cleaning the pool interior, changing the filters and refilling the pool, which would likely cost just a few hundred dollars.

The situation so far is that we have contacted the golf course manager, a guy named Brad, who says he has to talk to the Water Managment people and also his own Manager, before he can accept responsibility!!!!! - WHY?

Then we have had a call from the Water Managment Company, a guy called Tye, who admits that HE would not drink the water from the sprinkler heads- so is it safe in our pool or what????? - but he was evasive and would not commit himself and agree that the water may/does need changing.

Our pool was filled and is topped up with potable drinking water and obviously with rain water, but even the rain water volume pales into insignificance to the amount of contaminated water that the golf course water cannon sprinkler head has been pumping into our pool every three nights for goodness knows how long - not happy.

Does anyone have Dan Newlans telephone number?

Also your doctor. And your grandchildren's pediatrician.

Call the board of health and ask them;Florida Department of Health in Sumter

Frightening
 

Thank Gracie,
A rather frightening article.

Chlorine is not 100% on all bacteria or viruses, for example, the USDA will not approve it's use in animal disinfection situations.

They require the use of a product called One Stroke, made in Vineland NJ.

The only way the homeowner can sleep well is not add chemicals to treat unknown contaminants, it is just to simple to drain scrub and fill.

short of doing that, they will not rest easy, and TV must pickup the bill.

I am almost 76, taught school for decades and have lived in this world and worried myself sick about my family's health. I don't think if you and the kids haven't been sick that any thing bad will now happen. I would call TandD, Call your Doctor and see him if necessary, Call the board of health, even call The CDC, and if it will make you feel like you are doing everything, hire a lawyer.


But I am thinking that the pool chemical measures were adequate to defeat the dirty water. And your immune systems were adequate to defeat the dirty water.


I also believe that all over The Villages there are cases right now of homeowners own errant sprinklers watering the pools here and the homeowners are not aware of it. It is the same water that the golf courses use south of 466. I know you are upset. I think that this will be alright. I am so sorry you are worried. I truly understand.

OMG OMG four years ago I was on about to walk on the practice green at Truman when suddenly an irrigation head arose as I walked over the fringe of the green soaking me from head to toe. A new golf outfit to boot.

I did not give it any concern except for playing the round wet. But in the next few weeks I noticed I was getting shorter and wider and my skin was getting blotchy and my finger nails begin to grow at a rapid pace and my hair began falling out and suddenly I had an urge to bite other human beings but I couldn't catch them because my right leg dragged behind my left slowing me down . Then I got such a thirst for pond water and found myself wandering down to our pond and lapping that water up with my tongue:D

I truly understand your concern and your being upset its legit. Save some water for testing to satisfy your concerns, drain the pool, clean it, refill it, and enjoy the weather .

Personal Best Regards:

Holy Mackerel. I drank out of a hose near a pickleball court a year ago. Should I lawyer up? :1rotfl:

Don't you think exposure is part of the analysis..........of the sky falling?

Who is Dan Newlans?

Dan Newlin and Partners - Injury Attorneys :shrug:


Which brings up the question - Why don't snakes bite lawyers?


Answer - Professional courtesy!