When Our Swimming Pool Water Turned Green

A few weeks ago, the water in our pool turned green! This had happened to our pool several times.  About 5 years ago, all the water from the pool had to be sucked out when human faeces were detected in the pool. It took days for the water to be drained out and another few days for water to fill up the pool.

Residents were told to refrain from swimming until the pool contractor came to treat the water. From a distance, the pool looked like a sewage tank. It looked really intimidating. The sight of our pool reminded me of Summer 2016 when the whole world had their eyes firmly fixed on Rio. And the question on everybody’s lips? Why did the Olympic diving pool turn green?




Photo taken from the 5th floor of our unit.




There are a couple of reasons that could cause a crystal clear swimming pool to turn green overnight, namely: algae growth and metals in the water.


When chlorine levels drop below 1 ppm, it can cause algae to grow in the pool, turning the pool water green. When this happens it is necessary to "shock" the water with chemicals to kill the algae and return the pool to normal chlorine levels. Pool shock has high levels of chlorine that wipe out the algae and sanitize the pool.

The pool contractor finally came after the long weekend. He scrubbed and vacuumed the floor of the pool and then added buckets after buckets of white powdery stuff (chlorine?) into the water. O.M.G. 😱  Imagine the chemicals that our body gets in contact with each time we swim.  The contractor dumps buckets of white powdery stuff into the pool about once or twice a week after testing the pH level of the water.



No wonder Cass got her first UTI attack in 6 years about 9 months after she started swimming lessons. Each time she spent more than half an hour in the pool, she would complain of pain in her 'down under'.  As for me, I would have throat discomfort with phlegm after each swim.  I have stopped swimming for a year and now doing strength training, exercises on the pool deck chair (leg lifts, sit ups and bicycle crunches), brisk walking and jogging 5 times a week for 40 minutes each time.

This said, I still love swimming and plan to go back to the pool soon, when it's not so cold in the morning. It's been raining almost daily and pretty chilly in the morning.  But my first love is still running outdoors. I find so much peace during my 40-minute pre-dawn workout session everyday.