OUR CEMENT POND

A week ago Tuesday I visited our pool facility as usual to bask in the sun, read, and use our Park’s water works. With these continuing water tribulations to which management along with Berry Pools seem inept to solve, I find myself testing the water before going in.

The outdoor hot tub this day tested well enough to use, but the outdoor pool tested zero for chlorine. I tested it twice. A friend of mine said he notified the manager in charge later that afternoon and was told there was an equipment problem and Berry Pools was coming out to fix it. Wednesday after our coffee meeting, I tested the water and again it read zero. I surely thought that management and especially Berry Pools would not let this chlorine problem continue into the weekend, but they did without closing the pool. I tested the water on Friday, Sunday, and Monday with the same results.
Tuesday, the 28th, I tested all the pools and hot tubs. The indoor pool tested fine but nothing else did. I went to maintenance and found only Gino to tell this to. He said he had heard of no problems with the pool but said he would pass this on. I told one of the pool monitors and she promptly made some calls. Within twenty minutes Leo and Oscar who work in the pool area said they solved the problem. They explained that they unclogged the chlorinator. I told them it may be a good idea to check all the hot tubs for the same problem since they didn’t register chlorine this morning. They said they would. Les came out and tested the outdoor pool and spa water and then left.
When asked about the problem at today’s Board meeting, our general manager said that he learned about this on Monday when supposedly Berry Pool’s system detected the problem and was out here fixing it. Strange that this fixed job on Monday was the same problem fixed by Leo and Oscar on Tuesday. Stranger is that Berry’s system didn’t detect that our outdoor pool was unhygienic for at least nine days. This was Berry Pool’s big selling point for having their expensive services. Are we once again being given the usual what sounds good fabrications from management?
Does someone have to die from catching some opportunistic pathogen before we demand some accountability? Does management even stop to think of what sickness or infections may result from fecal contaminations having little to no sanitation in our pool/spa water? What about an ensuing lawsuit, something this Park can ill afford?
Our Village pays through the nose for the care of our pool facility. Apparently what our Village receives in return is a fat nosebleed of questionable water quality, excuses, and lies. This is not an isolated incident but a continuous one. Adding to this atrocious problem is our general manager repeatedly saying the pool facility is in total compliance with State codes when they are STILL NOT. It seems outlandish that our Board President stated our park pays less now for this care than before. A lone person making $8 an hour was doing the same work as what we now have a manager, one and a half pool personnel, two housekeepers, plus the $1295 a month paid to Berry Pools do. It appears our Park is just throwing $1295 a month away for a newly approved Berry Pools service contract.
A better job needs to be done for our Village and soon.