What would happen if chlorine wasn’t put in swimming pools?
In: Chemistry
The risk of legionella and pseudomonas (amongst other gross bacteria) growth increases. There are multiple chemicals that can be used instead of chlorine, but they require reapplication usually, and most public swimming pools do not want to close as often as is usually required. Plus, chlorine is basically the top dog. Silver nitrate can be used but is usually reserved for disinfecting the main supply tanks. Basically, legionella = potential for legionnaires disease which can be fatal.
The reason pools started getting chlorine in the first place was because of polio, so there’s that.
It turns into a swamp. My neighbors can’t be bothered to maintain their pool and it looks like the Last of Us with overgrown weeds and algae everywhere in the pool.
You ever see a pond?
It gets green and nasty unless you’ve got a different control in place. When I was a kid we put a dozen each of koi and algae eater fish in our above ground pool- the koi ate the insects and the algae eaters ate the algae, no chlorine necessary
Aside from algae and other grossness, you might end up with a frog colony living in it. (Which happened to our pool one year when I was a kid)
fun fact. its the urine you smell when you smell that “fresh pool” sscent.
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