Quote Originally Posted by Penuche View Post
I've read some about the "best guess" reasoning, but it still freaks me out to see the FC level that high! I suppose that is just because it is beat into us to use between 1 and 3 ppm - the "safe" value.
This is a common problem, but it is a psychological issue, not a pool issue. Unfortunately, this, and similar issues, are inflamed by chemically illiterate journalists and environmentalists, who think editorial deadlines or environmental passion can legitimately overrule simple facts.

However, as such, you have to decide what you're going to do -- suck it up, and go with the facts, or suffer pool problems because of unresolved phobias?

It might help to know that, until recently, the US EPA had NO upper limit on chlorine in drinking water. As a result it periodically happened that pool owners filled their pools with water that was "too high" in chlorine to swim in! Even today, the upper limit on chlorine in drinking water is 4 ppm (not 3!), and is a warning limit, meaning that the utility should make a reasonable effort to get it back down within a reasonable time. There is NO requirement to notify water company customers that they were briefly consuming water at 5, 7 or 10 ppm chlorine!

Several years ago, an unfortunate lady who shared your phobia, accidentally drank a few ounces of household bleach she'd left sitting in a juice glass. (Why? No idea!) Panicking, she called 911, and was told to drink some water to dilute the bleach. She drain 2 gallons and died!

She died from the same problem that put my dad (who's doing much better, thank you) in the hospital -- electrolyte imbalance. In Dad's case, he had not been drinking enough; in her case, it was WAY too much! It's my understanding, that if she'd done NOTHING, should would have been fine, except for an upset stomach and a sore throat.