SPOKANE, Wash. — A survey was circulating at the beginning of the summer claiming that more than half of Americans have taken a dip in the pool instead of taking a shower.
Sachs Media Group, a PR firm that represents the chlorine industry, conducted the survey. It peaked KREM's curiosity about the cleanliness of Spokane Public Pools.
More than 1,000 people swim in the six pools across the city each day, totaling just under 70,000 swimmers this summer alone. The city tests the water once every two to three hours to keep it clean.
KREM reporter Nicole Hernandez went to the Comstock and Liberty pools to see the test results.
They did two tests on each pool – one with an electronic reader and one using physical drops to read the Chlorine and PH levels. At each pool, the results came back within the healthy range.
According to the Center for Disease Control, pools should have Chlorine levels of at least 1 part per million and PH levels of 7.2 to 7.8 to maintain clean, safe pools.
Here's a breakdown of the numbers at the Comstock and Liberty pools:
Comstock Pool tested 5.5 PPM of chlorine on the Taylor Test Kit and 6 PPM of chlorine on the Palintest Kit. For PH levels, it tested 7.25 on the Taylor Test Kit and 7.5 on the Palintest Kit.
Liberty Pool tested 2 PPM of Chlorine on the Taylor test kit and 3.5 PPM of Chlorine on the Palintest kit. For PH levels, it tested 7.2 on the Taylor Test Kit and 7.45 on the Palintest Kit
To prepare for opening, Liberty pool employees were actively adding chemicals to the water just before the tests began. That accounts for the jump in numbers between the Taylor Test Kit and the Palintest Kit.
Staff are constantly adjusting the pools to keep Chlorine and PH at safe, germ-killing levels throughout the day. But dirty swimmers make it harder to keep the pools' levels balanced.
The chlorine reacts with dirt, sweat and oils left on swimmers, lessening the amount of active chlorine in the pool.
"You can manually feed liquid chlorine into the pool and it dilutes into the water," said Rachel Hansen, Aquatics Supervisor for Spokane Public Pools.
But if the levels get out of range of CDC guidelines, the city will shut down the pool. To make sure that doesn't happen, pool staff encourage people to rinse off before swimming.
"It just helps get any sweat off of them, any lotions, any hairspray," Hansen added.
RELATED: A guide to hotel pool etiquette
