Hennepin Co. Environmentalists Work To Get Public Pools Ready For Swimmers
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Many public pools are open year-round in Minnesota and some are just opening for the start of summer. But there's a lot of work that has to be done to make sure a pool is ready for public use.
On Friday morning, environmentalists from Hennepin County inspected several pools inside apartment complexes.
County or city health departments are in charge of most pools in the state of Minnesota, including apartment pools, health clubs and community pools.
Hennepin County environmentalist Joe Jurusik discussed the details of a common inspection as he looked through a pool in Brooklyn Center at the Carrington Drive Apartments, located on Humboldt Ave. N.
"It's a good feeling to see people having a good time and you know they're safe," Jurusik said.
Jurusik said all public pools are licensed and have to follow state laws.
On his inspection sheet, Jurusik has 60 boxes to check off, but he said three big categories are a must.
"You have to make sure pool chemicals are correct, make sure safety equipment is present, and gates and fences are intact," Jurusik said.
In Hennepin County, Jurusik works with more than a dozen inspectors to check nearly 500 indoor and outdoor pools, and that is not including Minneapolis and some other larger cities, which inspect their own pools.
Jurusik works alongside every pools required Certified Pool Operator to make sure the pool is up to state code.
Jurusik gave some advice for people heading to indoor and outdoor pools year-round.
"A clean pool does not have any odor, it shouldn't smell like chlorine," Jurusik said.
According to Jurusik, a strong chlorine odor actually means there's not enough chlorine in the pool.
After an hour and a few quick fixes, Jurusik gives the Carrington Drive Apartments pool the green light to open that same day.
"I'm signing off on them so they can open today and hopefully the kids can come," Jurusik said.
Jurusik said the most common reasons he temporarily would not allow a pool to open are improper chlorine levels or fence and gate problems.
Hennepin County comes back out monthly to check pools once they have opened.
Jurusik said there are no abandoned pools in his jurisdiction that he knows of and if there were, he would require them to drain the pool or cover it up entirely if it violated county health codes.
