Water Testing Answers

I asked my employer today about the problem of the "rash". He suggested it is "TDS" - "Total Dissolved Solids" in the water. Dirt, skin, waste.. Simply, organic/non-organic solids not being washed or flushed quickly enough from the pools.

You might find this interesting: He suggested (without being told) that for example, if a person with a skin condition (scoriosis - sp?) stayed in the pools for extended time without flushing it out, others can get a rash from it. It's common in pools and spas, apparently.

He said any pool & spa supply has test kits that test for TDS. The TDS gives you a count in parts per million of contaminates present.

Also, the TDS must be monitored for a period of time - over a few days, for example. The usual procedure for fixing it is to flush the pool and refill it.

Do you know anyone who is lingering in the pools who has a skin condition?

The TDS possibility seems rather unlikely to me, but on the other hand, we're experiencing more and more people gathering in the pools while the water flushes out at the same rate as ever. But, he's the expert.. Been in the business for many years.. He writes software for water testing and sells it to the major water testing companies around the world. His software is the standard by which all water testing software is measured.

So, there ya have it. Someone get a test kit and do some monitoring over a period of a few days and see what it reveals.

Important note: Transporting a water sample from the site will NOT provide an accurate measure of TDS. Testing MUST be done over a period of days on-site for accuracy.