{"id":1228,"date":"2012-03-05T11:10:51","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T17:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backyardcitypools.wordpress.com\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2012-03-05T11:10:51","modified_gmt":"2012-03-05T17:10:51","slug":"poop-happens-how-long-before-its-safe-to-swim-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/poop-happens-how-long-before-its-safe-to-swim-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Poop Happens — How Long Before It’s Safe to Swim Again?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pool<\/p>\n

We love our kids and pets, but they often find the most curious ways to make more work for\u00a0the adults in their lives.\u00a0 Take the backyard\u00a0swimming pool, for\u00a0example.\u00a0 We spend\u00a0countless hours every month ensuring that the pool stays clean and safe for our family and friends.\u00a0 We clean the filters, we test the chemical balance in the water and adjust the pool chemicals <\/a>as needed, we scrub the sides and bottom of the pool regularly to remove dirt and debris,\u00a0and more.\u00a0 So, when one of our beloved children (furry or otherwise) decides to use the pool as the drop zone for their poop, we understandably freak out.\u00a0 What now?<\/p>\n

The first steps are\u00a0probably obvious —\u00a0clear\u00a0all the swimmers out of the pool and then remove\u00a0the offending poop from the water.\u00a0\u00a0But, then what? \u00a0How long will it take before it’s safe to go back into the water?\u00a0 Well, it depends on what’s in the poop.\u00a0 Poop can contain\u00a0the E.\u00a0coli bacterium, the Hepatitis A virus, the Giardia parasite,\u00a0and\/or the super nasty Cryptosporidium parasite.\u00a0 Not many private pool owners have the desire or ability to test the poop to find out what kind of contaminants it contains, but it is important to note that the disinfection time varies greatly depending on the contaminants that the poop introduced into the pool water.<\/p>\n

The best approach is to take the most cautious route in case water is contaminated with the hard-to-kill and\u00a0chlorine-resistant parasite Cryptosporidium.\u00a0 Disinfecting means hyperchlorinating the pool water by increasing free chlorine to either 10 parts per million (ppm) or 20 ppm.\u00a0 The difference comes with\u00a0the amount of time you’ll have to wait before it’s safe to swim again.\u00a0 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), increasing free chlorine to 10 ppm means you’ll have to wait approximately 26 hours before swimming again.\u00a0 At 20 ppm, swimming can resume after about 13 hours.\u00a0 If you’re using a chlorine stabilizer, though, the game changes a bit.<\/p>\n

For full details about what to do when you’ve had poop in your pool, read the CDC’s instruction sheet on “Hyperchlorination\u00a0to kill Cryptosporidium<\/a>.”\u00a0 Additionally, instituting a mandatory pre-pool time potty visit for both kids and pets\u00a0can help prevent future accidents.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We love our kids and pets, but they often find the most curious ways to make more work for\u00a0the adults in their lives.\u00a0 Take the backyard\u00a0swimming pool, for\u00a0example.\u00a0 We spend\u00a0countless hours every month ensuring that the pool stays clean and safe for our family and friends.\u00a0 We clean the filters, we test the chemical balance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,11,12],"tags":[62,160,229],"class_list":["post-1228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pool-and-spa-chemicals","category-pool-and-spa-maintenance","category-pool-and-spa-safety","tag-chlorine","tag-pool-chemicals","tag-pool-safety"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2No25-jO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}