Pool maintainence during major drought

[nanhsot]

I'm so weary of trying to keep this pool balanced! My hardness is through the roof, my SWG quit working (replaced cell this summer, still broken), can't hold chlorine, etc, etc.

After doing some research today on water hardness, I believe all that I am dealing with is due to our unrelenting heat (100+ temps for 60+ days straight) and the fact that my pool self fills with well water, and we haven't had significant rain (and therefore soft water flushing out some of the hard) for months and months and months and months.

Is there anything at all that can be done in drought conditions, to help prevent some of these issues with hardness/chlorine loss due to heat, buildup of calcium (from the well water concentrate)?

 

[JasonLion]

If your fill water CH level is high and you live in a low humidity area, keeping the CH level in the pool low is a constant challenge. You need to replace massive amounts of water regularly. Just how often depends on how high your fill water CH level is, and how much evaporation there is in your area. With some care, even the highest evaporation areas can usually hold the water replacement to once every other year, though occasionally it has to be every year. Typically, you replace the water in the cooler rainy season, when water is plentiful, instead of during the summer when water is more valuable.

 

[PaulR]

my pool self fills with well water

Is there a way to rig a softener on the output from the well?
--paulr

 

[chem geek]

A pool cover would eliminate evaporation and the subsequent increasing of CH from the fill water, but it would also tend to make the pool hotter. If you got a white or otherwise reflective cover, then it could stop evaporation while not adding too much heat to the pool. If you removed the cover at night, you could even cool the pool down somewhat. Obviously, with a manual cover this can be a pain.