How can you test to see if there is harmful bacteria in your swimming pool?

Question

My son got a rash after he swam. The doctor said it could be bacteria from being in a heated pool. The doctor prescribed antibiotics. We shocked the pool with chlorine and have been adding more chlorine everyday. The water is clear and clean of algae. Is there a way to test to see if there is still harmful bacteria in the water? (No one else who has been in the pool showed symptoms.)

Answer 1

Contact your local health department for information on bacterial testing of pool water. They do it all the time but if may not really tell you anything useful.

If you are maintaining your own pool/spa you really need a good test kit to ensure your pool is chlorinated properly and chemically maintained.  

Heated water needs way more chlorine than unheated pool water but dosing it can be problematic.  

If you maintain chlorine in your pool from 1-3ppm with 5 max you should be OK.  Shocking your pool is part of normal maintenance twice per month for little used pools in summer and monthly the rest of the year.  With these chlorine levels you should have eliminated any bacterial content of the water.

Use liquid sodium hypochlorite to shock your pool it mixes well and does the job when done in the late afternoon when the sun is off the pool. Test water before swimming the following day.

You're welcome!!

Answer 2

Too much chlorine can just as easily cause rashes. It's possible that your son may just be very sensitive to it,

Answer 3

It could have just been a reaction to a chemical imbalance in the pool.  Not everyone is as sensitive to pool water as others.  Its most likely just a "freak Thing"

Proper pool sanitation...  Maintain your swimming pool to be at around 1.5 PPM for chlorine in your test.  When you shock, you can use granular or liquid shock, it doesn't really matter what type of shock you use, just make sure you follow your pool manufacturers instructions. (if you have a colored bottom pool or a vinyl liner pool you should use liquid chlorine to prevent any discoloration of colored plaster finish on a gunite pool, or any bleaching of your vinyl liner if you have a pattern on the bottom).

Remember that you want to use 1 pound of granular, or 1 gallon of sodium hypochlorite (liquid) for every 10000 gallons of pool water.  IF you dont know your pool water capacity, that is fine, just estimate.  Obviously if you have a 20 foot round pool 4 foot deep, you would probably want to use 2 gallons.  IF you have a 20X40 foot inground pool you are going to use a minimum of 3.  If you do know your water capacity, and it is say 16000 gallons, you are going to treat your pool as if it has 20000 gallons when you shock it.

Heaters and having heated water will cause you to use more chlorine.  Make sure you also have enough stabilizer <cyanuric acid> in your pool water.  You should have your pool tested by a store in the spring or early summer if you open your pool late to ensure all your chemicals have been added and are at the proper levels they need to be.

It is also possible that your son got the rash as a result of something else, maybe something that he ate, and had a reaction to,  and that it was a conincidence that he also happened to swim in that same day.  I am under the impression that you own the pool, and if this is the first time this has happened in how many times he has gone swimming, I would seem to think that its possible the source of the rash came from somewhere else.  It could even be from a towel that maybe didn t get properly dried, or a damp towel that maybe someone kept out and mold started to form but it wasnt noticable and he used it to dry off with.  Anything is possible.  It is also possible someone went into the pool with a type of sunblock or other personal lotion or perfume or anything like that and he is allergic to that and his skin reacted with it.

As long as you are maintaining your water above with the proper levels, and the water is clear and clean, i doubt that the water is the source of his rash.