DE PERE (NBC 26) — Could the latest nationwide shortage put a damper on pool season?
As the temperatures are getting warmer and people are excited to get out, the lack of chlorine found on shelves might determine whether you get to enjoy the pool this summer.
Pool Works Inc. said this chlorine shortage is affecting Northeast Wisconsin. Experts say there are multiple reasons for the shortage.
One of them being that last summer with the start of the pandemic, more families were staying at home and using their own pools, instead of going out to public pools or water parks. Others at the same time either built new pools or bought above-ground pools.
“Let’s just say business is up so crazy we can hardly keep up with the pool orders,” said Nick Arndt, Pool Works Inc. Salesman.
With the increased demand, along with a recent fire at Bio-Lab factory in Louisiana which makes pool and spa treatments, the production of chlorine has also slowed down.
Reutersreports they may not get back up and running until 2022. Experts say you can also expect prices for chlorine to go up.
Arndt said it's specifically the trichlor chlorine tablets that are the ones that have become hard to find.
He said as of a couple days ago they don't have any left.
Arndt also shares that trichlor dissolves very easily and has been used by many for years, which is why it is in such demand.
As for the City of De Pere, it says they don’t anticipate the shortage affecting their community pools.
They say they work with a water management company that reassured them they will be okay.
"The reason partly is due to the nature of the chlorine that we are getting. We are getting it in...pallets, that are used for big industrial types operations," said John McDonald, City of De Pere Recreation Supervisor.
In the meantime, Arndt said there are other chlorine alternatives and different types available in full stock.
"The main difference is that the NST is an erosion based for layman's term so this you have to put directly in your pool's skimmers so you have pressure from the pump that will erode it and make it dissolve. If there's no pressure or there’s no like water flow by it you won't have it dissolve. Whereas the other ones, the trichlor always dissolved no matter where they are, whether there’s pressure or not,” Arndt said.
But no matter what you end up doing this summer, just make sure to make pool season one to remember.
