Do You Know Best
Practice When It Comes To A Flooded Pool?
How do you remove
potential contaminants such as clay, dust & debris from
flood-affected pools?
If a pool has been susceptible to heavy rainfall, it is likely to have gained
plenty of dirty water, mud, debris and other various contaminants from the
surrounding environment.
Although a dirty, clouded and flooded pool is a huge inconvenience, the pool
can be used soon after if it is treated promptly, after the weather subsides.
The following procedure is recommended to rectify flooded pools.
- Check the pump, filter and other mechanical parts of the pool system for damage. If there is any
damaged equipment, see the applicable manufacturer for instructions or
replacement parts.
- Remove all debris from the pool. The rainfall has probably brought in
leaves and other debris from the surrounding areas. This will add large
amounts of organic matter to the water, which in turn will cause issues
with algae and chlorine residual. The sooner rubbish is removed from the
pool, the sooner clean-up can begin.
- Use a high quality floc to drop the clay and dust that has clouded up the
pool to the bottom. Remember that overdosing with a floc will not make
the job work faster
- Vacuum the debris formed from the Power Floc to waste.
- Turn on and leave on the pump/filter until water balance has been achieved. From now,
much of the debris should have been removed from the water. Although
still cloudy, the filter is the easiest way to clean the water.
- Test for metals and treat accordingly. The pool water may look a lot
clearer than the start, but there may be many dissolved particles within
the pool that came in with the dirt and clay. If there is a residual of
metals (copper/iron) it can cause permanent staining, especially when
chlorine is added back to the pool.
- Test for chlorine demand and treat accordingly. The flood water has washed an
incredible amount of organic and inorganic material into the pool.
Although most of it has been cleared out, there are still large amounts
dissolved within the water. These particles can cause a huge drain on
the chlorine added to the water to keep it healthy.
- Treat pool with high quality algaecide. The chorine is what makes the pool healthy to swim
in, but as the chlorine is working at oxidising, the pool needs to be
protected from algae. This defends the pool from algae whilst the
chlorine is working at oxidising and killing bacteria. Once a good
chlorine residual has been achieved, go back to a maintenance dose of
algaecide.
- Use a clarifier. At the same time as Step 9, a clarifier can be added
to the water. By now the water should be holding a chlorine residual, so
that the filter can be utilised to collect dead algae and other oxidised
organic waste.
- Manage the water balance. The water should be tested again by a professional
pool shop. The chemicals just added to recover the pool will have had an
effect on the water balance. This is because the pool has just been
flushed with new (dirty) water. The water needs to be balanced again as
it is the most important step to keeping the pool healthy, sparkling,
clean and inviting.
- Use a clarifier one last time when the water is balanced. Although
the water may look beautiful and fresh, the addition of one last
clarifier, will really bring the sparkle back to the water.
The above information was written by
William Mansfield of BioLab Australia Pty Ltd/BioLab Ltd and represents the
best interpretation of available technical information at the time of
preparation.
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