Throughout November and December, the Stoughton Area pool experienced two pool closures due to high chlorine levels. The pool closed on Nov. 25, 2024, due to a chlorine feeder problem, and on Dec. 2, 2024, due to high chlorine levels. While the two closures happened around the same time, they were completely unrelated issues that happened to coincide.
According to Dan Neely, SHS Aquatics Supervisor, the high chlorine levels were caused by a mechanical and maintenance error.
“There was a tiny part that had some chemical build-up that wasn’t cleaned, which caused it to clog the chemical feed,” said Neely.
“When the machine got cleared, the [chlorine pump] put a ton of chlorine into the pool,” he continued.
Pool water is a mix of chlorine and acid to keep the water neutral and maintain a pH between 7.2 and 7.8. If the pH jumps below seven, the water is too acidic; if the water is above 7.8, it is too alkaline/basic. The chlorine pump manages the amount of chlorine being pumped into the water.
The Public Health of Dane County and Madison requires pool chlorine levels to be between one to 10 parts per million. The SHS pool reached levels of around 10.5 parts per million during recent closures.
High chlorine levels can cause dry and itchy skin, eye irritation, breathing problems, and dry hair.
“We try to keep the pool at around two parts per million because once it gets up to five or six [parts per million], you can start to feel it on your skin,” Neely said.
The second pool closure was partly caused by the ongoing construction at SHS for the new cafeteria.
On Nov. 27, power throughout the entire building was shut off, and when turned back on, many things did not reboot correctly. The chlorine pump put too much chlorine into the pool water, leading to the Dec. 2 closure.
As well as causing the chlorine pump to stop working, the power outage also caused the ventilation system to stop working correctly.
“The air handling system wasn’t working right, so the pool hallway smelled like chlorine for the following days,” Neely said.
The issues surrounding the pool were dealt with on Thanksgiving Day by maintenance worker Michael Thomas.
“Mike Thomas runs a lot of the maintenance stuff throughout the district, and he was [at the pool] for seven hours on Thanksgiving Day,” Neely said.
The Stoughton pool is a staple to the local community and brings in many daily users, including the local Master’s Swim Team, which practices in the morning three times a week.
“The masters swimmers were the first ones to notice that something was off with the pool,” Neely said.
Even though the pool had high chlorine levels, the SHS boys swim team continued to practice in it. On the morning of Nov. 25, the boys swam in the pool before its closure because of high chlorine levels. The team came back at night after the issue was resolved for another practice.
“The boy’s team did a practice in a pool with high chlorine levels, so their skin got kind of itchy,” Neely said.
“By the time they had their second practice of the day, the chlorine levels were back to normal, but they were still experiencing the effects of having swam in the water with the high levels of chlorine,” he continued.
Since the last pool closure in early December, the SHS pool has not experienced any change in chlorine levels. It is expected to be open in the following weeks, including limited hours during winter break.
