I believe this  is important because there is very little information available to the general public on how to properly dispose of swimming pool and spa water without doing damage to the environment. After emptying my pool this past summer I discovered that I had to allow the water to stand for about a week for the chemical levels in the pool to be nill before it was drained into the compost pile, and through leaves, so that it would not run into the adjacent stream. After much web-searching, and talking to a new pool and spa company owner who has had over twenty years experience with pools and spas, I found out that there are many chemicals that are not neutralized before the contaminated water is released into rivers and eventually into the Chesapeake Bay. The pool owners are advised to dispose of their pool or spa water in a responsible way, but many are in a hurry to have the pool opened for the holiday weekend, Memorial Day, or simply are not concerned about the damage they are causing by emptying their water into the rivers without first draining it through their lawns at least. They are concerned that it will ruin their lawns and it makes me think, “what will it do to the river if you do not want it on your lawns?”

Many of the pool and spa company owners are well aware of the Clean Water Act and what the regulations are to dispose of the contaminated water responsibly, but are not training their technicians to dispose of said water according to regulations. In many cases the pool technicians that handle the weekly pool maintenance, opening the pools, and closing the pools are ignorant of the regulations and procedures. There are many chemicals  in the pool and spa water such as  chlorine, algaecides, alkalinity stabilizers, oxidizers,etc. that are released into the waterways and eventually into the Bay.  Not only  will it harm aquatic life, it will be passed on to us in the form of bacterial illnesses. This will eventually cause the loss of aquatic life altogether if some thing is not done. Even when the contaminated water is “dumped” in the storm sewers it is “cleaned” with more harmful chemicals such as Sulfur Dioxide and Sodium Metabisulfite before it is released into the waterways. Another thing to think about is the chemicals that are affecting the aquatic life are also threatening our drinking water supply.

There is a video, on youtube, that showed how they used to dispose of sodium in 1947:

I am glad that is not in practice any longer, but think about how much damage has already been done to our waterways. As pool and spa owners we should be more diligent in disposing of our contaminated water so as to not harm our environment. I hope this post gets attention and we can work together to make our environment cleaner and less toxic. Who would have thought  that owning a swimming pool or a spa would lead to harming the environment even further than it has been marred by being irresponsible with disposing of the water when repairing or emptying a pool for the winter. I look forward to your feedback and comments.