Is this BS?

[chem geek]

This is BS.

1) Refer to this link or others similar to this that refer to the latest scientific studies that showed that the ozone hole was bigger than ever BUT was due to weather conditions and that the expectation is that there will be a complete recovery by 2065. Prior to this year, the ozone hole had gone down in size so the overall trend has been positive since CFCs were banned, but it's going to take a while before we notice a definitive drop.

2) It isn't ANY chlorine compounds that deplete the ozone layer, but only those compounds that are very stable (e.g. chlorofluorocarbons aka CFCs), do not breakdown readily by UV (though they do eventually breakdown in the stratosphere), and do not dissolve in rain. Refer to this link from the EPA that talks more about this. Chlorine gas that comes from swimming pools dissolves readily in water (and therefore rain) and is also broken down by UV and therefore does its "reactivity" very low in the atmosphere and never makes it to the stratopshere where the ozone is present. Of course CFCs are very heavy so wouldn't make it up to the stratosphere through diffusion anyway, but high winds (such as tornados) could do it and once up there they act as catalysts and wreck havoc with the ozone (regular weather winds in the troposphere also push up CFCs and some will migrate to the stratosphere over many years). Maybe a tornado over a swimming pool might be an issue...who knows. My guess would be that the UV would break down the chlorine (HOCl) in the water to chloride ion rendering it harmless to the ozone and that this would happen much, much faster than it would take for the chlorine to reach the stratosphere.

3) I cannot find any source that says that chlorine was banned in Belgium. All I can find is this study by Belgian researchers about the problems of using chlorine in indoor pools (which we've talked about before in other threads including this one).

Richard