Yup, two thirds of the pools have been closed. Look closely at the test results from the inept private lab and you'll find that at some pool they found total chlorine lower than free chlorine (!) and they didn't bother checking total chlorine if free chlorine was greater than 1.2 ppm. They also came up with their own range for total chlorine... "presence". Hence we must find total chlorine. As long as we find some... Then there's the category of "chlorine odor", entirely subjective, when there is no chlorine odor you got 5 points, a moderate odor got you 10 and a strong odor got you 0 points. Verrrry scientific. The lab did not check ORP levels nor did they check stabilizer levels. They also used the outdated and incorrect chlorine range of "0.6 -1.2" ppm, so any pools not within this range got closed. Hence the pool near my sister's place, with a chlorine level of 2.6 ppm (with a bather load of 60) got shut down.

The newspaper that carried this "exclusivity" also has its share of ineptitude, the reporter for example states that a lower pH chlorine is less efficient and my favorite, "sweat and dandruff accumulate and combine with the sodium hypochlorite contained in the chlorine to produce chloramines." Ah yes.

All in all an inept study reported by a bunch of inept reporters who just can't explain things properly.

Then we get our minister of health announcing tough new measures, yes that's right, starting next year pool operators will have to check water every *three* hours, compared this to Ontario where they have to check water every two hours at the most. They may even allow an upper chlorine range of 3 ppm!

The root of the problem is twofold, proper training for pool operators (the task of pool operation is currently given to part-time lifeguards) and new standards for pool water chemistry.

Anyhow this entire pool thing combined with the ineptitude of the lab and reporters just makes me want to go into hiding.

Or move to Ontario.


Paul
Montreal, Canada

Disclosure: I own a small pool service company north of Montreal serving the residential market, I sell test kits, accessories and chemicals.