Help! Flash Flood last night! Drain or just filter?

[Amir]

I live in Maryland and last night we had a flash flood. My crystal clear pool is now a brown pond. I started the filter 24/7 backwashed once, raised chlorine level to over 6 ppm, (cya pre flood 20 ppm) lowered PH to 7.3. I can hardly see the first step. Should I drain and refill or let the filter (DE) and Chlorine take care of the problem. I am concerned about what could have been washed in (fertilizer, pesticides etc.) that the chlorine and filter will not take out. I would appreciate any advice.
Regards

Amir

[Poconos]

Amir,
I saw on Philly news this morning that parts of eastern MD got 11". Wow. Hope the pool is all that's affected. What kind of pool? I assume IG but is it a vinyl liner or what? My guess is mud will plug up the DE pretty fast. I think this rain is going to continue for days so based on that all I can suggest is draining to waste if the flooding is over and letting additional rain refill and dilute.
Good Luck,
Al

[Amir]

Al,
It was the worst I have seen since I have moved in this house year ago. The pool is 35000 IG gunite - just remodeled. The mud does plug the DE very fast. The guy who remodeled the pool said to vacuum the pool and let the filter do the job. He also said that the chlorine will oxidize the nitrogen form the fertilizer. I don't know if this is true.
Amir

[Amir]

By the way, thank God it was just the pool. It was touch a go for a while since we lost power and the sump pumps were not working. The water got to within 3" of the floor of the basement but the power kicked in and all is fine - at least indoors!
Amir

[cleancloths]

Sorry to hear your problems. In NJ we have gotten about 4-5" so it is just a matter of pumping out the excess water. I would think if you turn off the pump and let things sit still the mud will settle and then you can vaccuum it out. You probably need to find out why you had a mud flow towards the pool. The pool should be slightly higher than the surrounding ground so that run-off won't go to the pool. Maybe when things dry out you should build some sort of burm so this does not happen again.

[Tredge]

I think the general rule of thumb is:
If you can see the bottom, filter. If you cant, replace.

That much mud is going to be expensive to filter out.
I might try letting it all settle out and then vaccum to waste depending on how much mud there is.

So my advice is to Not filter for a few days and see what settles....then decide to replace or not.

[waterpro]

I wouldnt even think about draining it till the water table goes down...You dont want that pool to float...

[Amir]

Waterpro,
Your are right. This pool had floated years ago. I just spent 20K fixing it and it still has problems.


New test today : FC:4ppm, CC: 1ppm, cya <20, PH 7.3 Mud #$%^ ppm!

[Lenny]

A few weeks ago, after a storm, I came home to a brown pool that was filled to the top. I could see down to maybe the 2nd or 3rd step. I shocked and started filtering right away and I was amazed to find that in 24 hours it was totally clear.

[Amir]

Hi Lenny,
I can now see only the first step. The good news is that the sun is out and the rain has stopped - at least for now! I am keeping the chlorine level high and hope it will clear out in a week.
Amir