Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. As the summer of was coming to a close, a buzz was sounding among those in the swimming pool industry. Chlorine was becoming scarce and it wasn't going to get better anytime soon. Industry experts knew what a chlorine shortage would mean. Pool owners would be left scrambling for this pool sanitizer and spending much more per bucket, possibly hoarding the tablets or looking for
alternatives to keep their pools clean and safe. But at the time, the public remained largely unaware, more focused on the global COVID nineteen pandemic and the heated presidential election. A cooler weather was also coming, and pools across the country were beginning to close. The fallout from the Great chlorine Shortage of wouldn't be realized until the warmer weather
returned the following year. Fast forward to just as quickly as spring flowers began to blossom and pools began to open, so did word of the chlorine shortage, leaving pool owners and a lerch for the article this episode is based on, has to Fork spoke with Rudy Stankowitz, a pool water chemistry expert and CEO of Aquatic Facility Training and Consultants. He calls the circumstances leading up to the shortage a
perfect storm, and he sometimes calls it pool Mageddon. In early when news first broke that the coronavirus had landed on US soil, Americans scrambled to buy up hand sanitizers to protect ourselves from the virus. Justice demand for the products began to soar. The Food and Drug Administration or f d A issued warnings to consumers that some hand sanitizers contained methanol, a substance that can be toxic when
absorbed through the skin or ingested. Apprompted by the additional strain on hand sanitizer products, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC issued recommendations on hand hygiene. In cases where soap and water or alcohol based hand rubs are not available, The CDC recommended some d i y hand washing solutions that included chlorinated water made with chlorine powder.
Another strain on chlorine demand came from the boom in residential pools, with amusement, park and event venue closures and travel restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID. People were stuck at home and forced to find their own forms of entertainment. Some of the money people would have spent on vacations got funneled into backyard swimming pools. Stankowitz said of pools were a popular go to item to install, and as a result, the industry grew fourteen percent last
year during the pandemic. So we have more water in people's backyards than ever before, creating more and more demand. But the big his hit came on August when Hurricane Laura, of category four hurricane hit southwest Louisiana, triggering a fire in bio Labs chlorine and disinfectant manufacturing plant. Bio Lab is the largest chlorine producer in the United States, making at least seventy of the chlorine tablets used by pool owners in America. The chlorine plant, just west of Lake
Charles burned for more than fifty hours. The fire completely shut down bio Labs production of chlorine tablets. In the weeks and months that followed, warehouse supplies began to dwindle and chlorine tablets became scarce. As a result, the price of chlorine began to skyrocket. According to i h S Market data cited by Goldman Sachs, chlorine prices are thirty
seven percent higher now than they were last spring. For reference, a twenty five pound or eleven kilo bag of chlorine tablets costs about a hundred and thirty five dollars today compared to just eighty nine dollars in May of and stank Witz doesn't expect the chlorine shortage to end this summer. File apps production of chlorine tablets is not expected to
return to normal levels until April two. Meanwhile, demand for chlorine is expected to increase as the number of residential swimming pools continues to grow into According to Pool Corp, a pool supply company, about a hundred and ten thousand new pools are expected to be added in the US this year, an increase of more than over twenties already
high numbers. What that means is pool owners can expect to pay about fifty eight percent more for chlorine in June, July, and auguste compared to last year, according to I h S Market So up, are there any alternatives to chlorine tablets? Chlorine is a necessary chemical to keep swimming pools safe and clean. When added to swimming pool water, it forms hypo chlorous acid, a mild disinfectant that prevents the growth
of algae. Chlorine kills bacteria like Salmonella and equal I and can enactivate viruses that cause illnesses like diarrhea and swimmer's ear. Even saltwater pools use special generators that turn the salt you add to the water into chlorine to keep the pool water safe. But what can pool owners do if they can't get their hands on chlorine tablets first? Other types of chlorine or colorine compounds in liquid or powder forms can also be used. These should be more
readily available in stores as well. Stanko's explained that there are also hacks that pool owners can use that enable them to use less chlorine or use other products like bleach. He wrote an entire book dedicated to the topic how to Get rid of swimming pool algae. Doing your homework before altering the chemicals in your pool is strongly recommended, though, according to the CDC, pool chemical injuries send a up four thousand five people to US emergency departments every year.
Today's episode is based on the article National Chlorine Shortage could Spoil the US Summer on Houstuffworks dot Com, written by Jennifer Walker. Journey Brainstuffers production of I Heart Radio in partnership with houstuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Playing for four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite show.