Drought impact in California

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G

goofiness

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Jul 3, 2011
87
Stockton, CA
Pool Size
21000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
We live in the central valley of California, where the 4 year drought presents many issues, practical and ethical, for pool owners. There are restrictions in place on new pool fills, and refills, and limits on lawn watering.

I swim 4-5 times a week; no other users. Evaporative loss means running my fill line around 20 minutes, twice a week, which is just about what the lawn gets. We are on a private well, with hard water. The CH in the pool is getting very high, >500, because of constant addition of hard water, with no dilution from rain water. So, two questions:

1. Any ideas to reduce evaporation? I'm reluctant to use a pool cover, because of the hassle of putting it on/taking it off, to go in the pool.
2. Any ideas about the hardness issue? I can't drain the really hard stuff, and replace it with the less hard well water, for obvious reasons.

Last summer, I started thinking about demolishing the darn thing, but keep hoping for rain.

Thanks,
Jerry
 
The lowest my pool CH has been in the last five years was 440, and that was after a big rainstorm where I diverted the raingutter downspout to the pool to harvest all that free Calcium-free water. Up to 800 it's pretty easy to maintain without growing scale. After 1000, forget it. You're out of wiggle room.

Hopefully, you have your own test kit. If so, run all your tests and plug your numbers into poolmath and see what it says for CSI. Then experiment and change the targets for each parameter and see what it does to CSI. Keep pH at the low end of acceptable and keep TA down at 60-70 and it should be fine.

I have been using pool water on my lawn and the irrigation water that would be wasted keeping a small patch of grass green goes to the pool instead. Besides lowering CH, it lowers CYA a bit, but that works out because I put pucks in a floater when I leave for the weekend. I'm letting my front lawn go brown and crunchy now, so I don't think I'll be reducing CH so much this summer.
 
Even though it's a pain, a cover is the best way to virtually eliminate evaporation. That will save on water and prevent the CH buildup. You could still do what Richard suggests in terms of using pool water for watering in which case the water you'd use for landscaping instead is used to dilute your pool water. That will keep other parameters in check such as the salt level (or CYA if you use pucks at all).

If your pool water is already hot enough, then you could use a white or reflective cover so that the water won't get warmer. If you want your water warmer, then getting a clear bubble-type cover can increase the water temperature by 10-15ºF.
 
Thanks for the advice, and reassurance on CH. Do you use a portable pump to get pool water to the lawn?

I do the same with pucks when we are away, so my CYA level has remained right around 40 since I became a TFP advocate.

Jerry
 
Thanks for your reply. Ours is an old-fashioned kidney shape, 18' X 36'. Any suggestion on where to shop for a cover? The pool is warm enough now, so heat is not an issue. Any experience with the floating rings? I've read some pretty bad reviews.

Jerry

- - - Updated - - -

Aha. Mine does, too. So, I could pump water out, 20 minutes, twice a week, then pump well water in, same rate. Worst case, the CH stays the same, but I've saved some water. Best case, the CH actually drops.
 
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