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.