‘It’s very important:’ Shelby County Health Department inspects over 500 public pools in the county

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) -According to the Shelby County Health Department, they inspect 594 public pools in the county.

Ahead of the Fourth of July and the rest of the summer months, Deputy Director Kasia Smith-Alexander gave Action News 5’s Michaela Redmond an inside look on how inspections are done.

“So, this is our test kit. This is what every inspector comes out with to go and inspect,” said Smith-Alexander.

Smith-Alexander said inspectors test the chlorine, PH level, alkalinity, and Cyanuric acid. She said the inspection also involves physically looking around at the pool.

“Making sure that the chemicals are kept separate, that they’re not exposed so that children can’t get into it. We also make sure there’s a lifeguard on duty and then we also make sure that, you know, there’s foam, pool rules,” said Smith-Alexander.

Smith-Alexander said those are just a few physical checks and there are others. She said everything is then tracked in a scorecard that takes off points for anything not up to par.

“Of course, kids want to come out and have a good time, but we also have a number of kids who don’t know how to swim, and we always say drowning is a silent killer. If you’re underwater, no one hears you scream. So, it’s very important,” said Smith-Alexander.

Smith-Alexander said people can swim in a pool that receives a score in the 90’s and said if the pool received an unsafe score, it would be shut down.

“If the chemical balance is off, you get the burning of the eyes a lot of times because there’s too much chlorine. Some people with Eczema might have a reaction because of the chlorine levels in the pools and even sometimes the PH balance can cause for the skin irritation that people might experience,” said Smith-Alexander.

As the summer carries on, Smith-Alexander said the best advice is to avoid cloudy pools and pay attention to low water levels which could mean a lack of filtration.

“One of the things to keep in mind is if you have diarrhea, you’re not feeling well, don’t get in the pool. You know, we don’t want others to get sick because they can become sick with what we call with GI issues,” said Smith-Alexander. “Also, children in diapers, especially those kids, don’t put them in a pool with a diaper. Recommend either putting them in swim diapers that they do make, and you can buy and purchase, because it contains and holds everything in the diaper. As the pool becomes dirtier with germs and bacteria, and that sort of thing, it’s harder for it to fight it off.”

Another tool, the health department inspects over 500 pools in Shelby County with all the score cards available on the Tennessee Department of Health website. The website requires an individual to type “pool” in establishment and then choose a county.

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