Pool Cleanliness Urged as Summer Begins
This video is no longer available.
JACKSON, Tenn.–Swimming pools can be dangerous and potentially deadly. Bacteria in the water can put people in the hospital, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. Floyd Beard, Jr. is prepping the pool at T.R. White Sportsplex in Jackson for summer. “We get in and get all the green gook and gum out of it,” he said. “It’s a 155,000 gallon pool. That’s a lot of water.” Beard said it gets pretty dirty. “We like for everybody to bathe before they get in, but sometimes it doesn’t work that way,” he said. A recent study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found 58 percent of pools tested positive for E. coli, a bacteria normally found in the human gut and feces. “The waste, human waste in the pool that you’d be swimming in can get in your eyes, your mouth, your nose and could cause you to get very sick,” said Mark Morris, Environmental Program Manager at the Jackson-Madison County Health Department. The health department inspects public pools at least once a month. Workers check chlorine levels and water clarity. “The gradings or the openings in the main drain, if you can see those clearly then it’s clear enough for you to use the pool,” said Morris. Chlorine keeps the bacteria down. Beard pours a minimum of 25 pounds in the pool each day it is open. “You gotta stay on top of it cause we don’t want no sickness or any kind of diseases in it, so you gotta keep it sanitized,” he said. Beard checks the chlorine at least twice a day. If someone has an accident in the pool, the health department said swimmers need to get out. They have to do a complete turnover of the pool water, which takes several hours.
