SAFETY BEHIND THE SCENES! HOW WE CARE FOR OUR POOLS

We take safety seriously at LPB. We have safety skills built into each level of our curriculum. But what about the water itself? Our facilities team work around the clock to ensure our students are swimming in the cleanest pool water possible.

In the State of California and in accordance with the state Health Code, all public pools are required to use chlorine to sanitize their pool water. There’s no way around it! With that in mind, there are steps that can be taken to minimize the use of chlorine while maintaining healthy and clean water. All pool equipment and components in our facility play a vital role in how much chlorine is used. LPB uses a 12% liquid chlorine solution to sanitize the pool water and it is administered through our Chemical Automation System. Monitored by management staff as well as our three Certified Pool Operators 24/7, you can rest assured that we are always using just the right amount of chlorine to maintain safe and clean pool water. LPB also uses salt as an additive to make the water more gentle on the skin. With a higher salt content, the pool water does not absorb into the skin as much because it is closer to the body’s natural level of salinity.

FILTRATION SYSTEM

The pool filter plays a very important role in the amount of chlorine that is used. At LPB swim school, we have chosen to partner with Neptune Benson, Inc. and are currently using their Defender series of pool filters. A world leader in filtration, the Defender can filter down to the finest of microns. Chlorine is not very smart and can not determine what it should attack and what it should avoid. Therefore, chlorine tries to sanitize, disinfect, or oxidize everything it comes in contact with. The advantage here is that when your pool filter is removing debris and cleaning effectively, less chlorine can be used because there are fewer things in the pool water that the chlorine can attack!

ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT

UV light is another form of disinfection that we use at LPB. After passing through our Defender filter, 100% of our pool water travels through our UV machine. This process kills and destroys all organic compounds that pass through including bacteria and viruses leaving nothing behind. Similar to the Defender; with fewer debris, organics, and dissolved solids passing through, we are able to “maximize” the chlorine that is available in the water. Simply put, if your pool water is cleaner, you can use less chlorine because there are fewer things to sanitize, disinfect, or oxidize!

HVAC

Have you ever walked into a pool building and there’s that familiar “pool” smell. In actuality, what you’re smelling is something called Chloramine gas. Chloramines are a result of “used up” chlorine. It is the byproduct of chlorine after it has sanitized, disinfected, or oxidized something. Chloramines will “gas off” into the air and are responsible for that “chlorine” smell in a pool building and can irritate eyes and lungs. We have two ways to eliminate chloramines at LPB. First, we make sure we have adequate air flow around the pool. Our exhaust system can carry away any chloramines present in the air. Secondly, any that remain in the pool water will be destroyed when they pass through our UV machine. As mentioned above, the UV destroys ALL organics and compounds. A well-designed Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning unit will not only create a welcoming environment but will also aid in removing chloramines from your facility.

CIRCULATION AND TURNOVER RATE

Another very important part about minimizing chlorine and maximizing safety is the circulation of the pool water and turnover rate. The faster the water is moved through the filtration system, the cleaner it is, resulting in lower amounts of chlorine. Our full-time staff of certified pool operators monitor all of our equipment daily to make sure our circulation is working correctly. The health code requires a 6 hour turnover rate. At LPB, our plumbing and equipment can handle exceptionally high levels of turnover, turning over 100% of our pool water in 1 hour 15 minutes in San Francisco and Redwood City, and 3 hours 20 minutes in San Bruno and Half Moon Bay!

STAFF TRAINING

We also have CPR and First Aid certified staff as well as certified Lifeguards to ensure that any emergency, big or small, can be attended to with qualified and skilled professionals. If you have any questions regarding safety measures or procedures at La Petite Baleen, please feel free to speak with one of our Site Directors or Director on Duty (DOD).