Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Chlorine: Biocide, chemical weapon, used in insecticides, dyestuffs and it plays havoc with skin, hair and possibly our immune systems!

I swam with a fast swimmer in my age group named, Steve J., at the Santa Monica college pool the other day and he told me that on a trip to China he had the opportunity to train in a pool located in, Macau, that used absolutely no chlorine whatsoever but rather they used ozone. He remarked how crystal clear the pool water was, that it was the cleanest pool-water he ever swam in.

So, these past few weeks I have been Googling chlorine alternatives and this here is an article at About.com which is as pro-ozone as I am now. [link] The ozone filtration, or airation zaps, the water off-hours or in closed-off standing pool nearby and filters the water back into the pool. When it is time to swim, the water consequentlylooks like a tide-pool in Bermuda. No asthma risk, viral/bacterial, or perhaps cancer risk whatsoever. The water becomes essentially untainted or fresh. Look at that water in the photo. That pool is the Macau Aquatics Center in China.

Another interesting comparison chart I found plays up the difference between ozone and chlorine. [link] Caveat: This firm sells ozone systems.

There are other chemical alternatives such as brine and saline but I am sold on Ozone. Every article I have read points to it as the safest, most healthy way to swim. Ipso facto, chlorine is a biocide. Read as it kills all life and we are swimming in gallons of it almost everyday. We should seek this as an alternative.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How is the Santa Monica College pool purified?
Are there any pools in the LA area that don't use chlorine?

Tony Austin said...

Santa Monica is a wonderful pool they use chlorine and osmosis. As a result the chlorine levels there far less that of Van Nuys Sherman oaks or any other Los Angeles City Pool I have swam in.

I think Pierce College uses something besides chlorine. Call an find out. When I swim at meets there, my lips taste different than chlorine. Please call and find out.

A perfect pool would use Ozone has the primary purification, Osmosis as the secondary, and then chlorine as the additive if the pool is getting hammered by tons of usage.

Ozone filtration would worked great at say LMU which is not used that much. at Van Nuys Sherman Oaks where I have heard kids admitting to peeing in the pool, that pool needs all three filtration vehicles; though the pool is much , much better than last year.

If they passed the hat around at a pool for an ozone setup, I would kick in $100!!!

Unknown said...

The city pool in the city before I moved to SM used ozone. It was nice, no red eyes after spending half day in the water and no chlorine smell on the clothes.

Online are articles that say ozone were cheaper then chlorine. Why wouldn't everyone use ozone then. Cheaper and better. Maybe, the articles that I read were biased. I am not very knowledgeable in all the ins and out.

$2.50 is a steal for the pool. I'd be happy to pay double or more for ozone.

Tony Austin said...

Ozone literally makes the water drinkable. However, pools that are hammered with lots of traffic or primarily lots of children in such cities as L.A. County; the need for chlorine would still exist but in substantially less amounts.

Pools such as colleges and universities could rely completely on ozone.

Any data you have I would post. Thank you for your comment.

Tony