Is Chlorine Really The Best Option For Pools?
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Is Chlorine Really The Best Option For Pools? Many pool owners get frustrated with chlorine use, or wish to explore potentially healthier options rather than using chlorine as the primary sanitizer in their pool. For the vast majority of these pool owners the short answer is that chlorine IS the easiest, safest and cheapest way to maintain swimming pool water but let's consider some of the deeper reasons for this:
Chlorine makes pool water safe - Stagnant water, which is what a swimming pool is, is dangerous. Without something in the water to make it safe for swimmers you would be taking an awfully big chance swimming in a pool without any chlorine. Bacteria and organic debris found in swimming pool water is more than just gross...many extremely harmful things can be in (or grow in) poorly trated swimming pool water. Dirty water in general is actually one of the most dangeous things on the planet to human life. The use of chlorine as a chemical sanitizer is critical in creating a safe environment for people to swim. Poorly managed pool water, or water without any chlorine at all, can contain harmful pathogens, bacteria and parasites which could lead to very seious, even deadly situations. So in short, chlorine is the primary source of protection you have in your pool against these extreme situations. There are no (zero, none) better options than chlorine for maintaining safe pool water.
4 Reasons To Use Chlorine - There are four reasons why we use chlorine in pools instead of something (anything) else. This is because chlorine is a chemical sanitizer. It is also a chemical oxidizer. Chlorine is also an algicide, and most importantly of all chlorine has the ability to build and hold a residual value in the water. It is this residual value which protects swimmers from one another, or recently introduced bacteria / impurities and something which is unique amongst all potential options to use to keep your pool safe. If you had another chemical which could do all four of these things then that chemical would be a potential alternative. Unfortunatley there are no other chemicals which can do all four of these things that chlorine can. This is why chlorine simply is the best overall and cheapest / safest way to manage your pool water.
Chlorine allergy - Within the pool industry we hear from pool owners (constantly) that they are allergic to chlorine and this is why they want an alternative to chlorine. Medically speaking this is not true. The percentage of medically documented chlorine allergies is less than 0.001% of the population. Really consider just how small that number is. It is TINY. Almost non-existant. The reason why the amount of people allergic to chlorine is so small is due to the biological process by which humans generate hypochlorus acid. When you add chlorine to water (any / every kind of chlorine) is ceases to be chlorine as soon as it contacts the water. It becomes hypochlorus acid. This is actually what sanitizes the water. Interestingly, human biology is such that we (humans) create hypochlorus acid on the molecular level. This means "chlorine" (hypochlorus acid) is inside every living human being. Less than 0.001% of suspected chlorine allergies actually turn out to be allergy to chlorine. These are, in virtually every investigated case, a poor reaction to spent chlorine / chloramines in the water which only exist in poorly managed pool water. Chlorine allergy is one of the rarest chemical allergies found in people, so the chances of you actually having a chlorine allergy are actually infinitesimally small.
Alternatives to chlorine - There are zero alternatives to chlorine which can provide all of the same protections that chlorine can in your pool water. There are some alternatives which can provide one or more of the four layers of protection that chlorine provides, but none which can provide all four. Additionally, all other chlorine alternatives are more expensive, less easy to administer and test for and require greater care to balance and manage than chlorine does. It is a mistake to think you are allergic to chlorine, and another mistake to think there are better (safer / cheaper) alternatives to chlorine. There is a reason why chlorine is the number one choice for chemical sanitizer in not just pools, but in every drinking water source on the continent. Chlorine IS safe.
If you are having a poor physical reaction to your pool (or any swimming pool) then the two options are a) the pool is not chemically managed well (which is extremely common to encounter) or b) you are literally a one in 100,000 or less of people who can react to chlorine. So while it is possible, the odds are very, very small that chlorine is the cause of red eyes, itchy skin or other common complaints from pool owners about use of chlorine and very likely that your pool water has elevated amount of combined chlorine (spent chlorine / chloramines) which are known to be irritating to eyes and skin.
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