An abandoned pool has often a lot of organic debris. In time this will ferment and it may degrade to acetic acid ++++. Chlorine may react with this resulting in chloroacetate. This is something that no one wants in the swimming pool water.
Green to blue - is the water safe even if it is nice?
- Thread starter Tepelus
- Start date
I think his point is that for abandoned pools it may be better to do more water replacement than to try and recover them using chlorine alone. If there is acetic acid present in the water, then chlorine may react with it to form chloroacetic acids that are part of the regulated disinfection by-products known as haloacetic acids (HAA5).
From what I can tell, the haloacetic acids are formed as byproducts of chlorination of organic compounds and not direct chlorination of acetic acid itself (see the end of section 2.2 in this paper). The haloacetic acids and the acetic acids themselves appear to be biodegraded in the absence of chlorine as noted in this paper. So it is the organic precursors of the swamp that would be more likely to form chlorinated disinfection by-products when chlorine was added so it is prudent to remove as much physical debris as possible from the water first, but of course that makes sense to do anyway to reduce the amount of chlorine needed to clear the water.
However, as noted in this paper and this link, haloacetic acids are not volatile nor are they absorbed through the skin so the only risk is from drinking large quantities of pool water. So I don't consider this a problem we need to deal with. There are other reasons why some water replacement may be a better strategy for swamp pools, but that is more due to the economics of water vs. using large amounts of chlorine. Of course, it's always better to start off with fresh water if one has the ability and budget to do so.
From what I can tell, the haloacetic acids are formed as byproducts of chlorination of organic compounds and not direct chlorination of acetic acid itself (see the end of section 2.2 in this paper). The haloacetic acids and the acetic acids themselves appear to be biodegraded in the absence of chlorine as noted in this paper. So it is the organic precursors of the swamp that would be more likely to form chlorinated disinfection by-products when chlorine was added so it is prudent to remove as much physical debris as possible from the water first, but of course that makes sense to do anyway to reduce the amount of chlorine needed to clear the water.
However, as noted in this paper and this link, haloacetic acids are not volatile nor are they absorbed through the skin so the only risk is from drinking large quantities of pool water. So I don't consider this a problem we need to deal with. There are other reasons why some water replacement may be a better strategy for swamp pools, but that is more due to the economics of water vs. using large amounts of chlorine. Of course, it's always better to start off with fresh water if one has the ability and budget to do so.
Thank you Chem Geek for your answer. Your comment and the ref to the articles are -as always- to the point.