TULSA, Okla. — Oklahoma summers can get incredibly hot. Tuesday is forecasted to be the hottest day of the year so far, with temps possibly getting to 110 degrees.
If cooling off in the pool is part of your plans today, experts are warning of a danger possibly lurking in your backyard. Pool operators say it's now so hot and has been for several consecutive days, that it's actually affecting the chemical balance in many swimming pools.
Lisa Ifland is the owner of Pinch a Penny Plano Pools. She's worked on thousands of pools and says each year she sees people rushed to the hospital for injuries from mishandling chemicals.
She says she's on an educational mission to make sure people don't get poisoned from misuse, breathing in chemicals, or even getting skin burns from adding too much chlorine to the water.
"If you get a pool that has not properly balanced and the chlorine level is either high or low, the water can be corrosive, and you can feel burning on your skin. You can feel burning on your eyes, you can have a rash on your skin,” she said. “There's all types of effects you can experience getting out of the pool – you can feel nauseated. The water chemistry balance is very important."
Ifland says if you're having issues, call a pool expert and they can come out and do a pool analysis for you. But if you're doing it on your own, make sure to:
- Wear safety goggles and a respirator.
- Keep chemicals out of reach from children, teens, and pets.
- Store the chemicals in a temperature-controlled environment.
- Never mix different chemicals with each other.
Another thing Ifland has noticed is people throwing chemicals directly into the pool. She says to make sure you dilute them in a bucket first and have water flowing at all times so that it evenly mixes.
Trending Stories:
- Several Bixby residents still without water after unauthorized withdrawal
- DOWNLOAD the 2 News Oklahoma app for alerts
- Best friend remembers woman killed at the Center of the Universe shooting
- FOLLOW 2 News Oklahoma on Facebook
- Lack of rain forces some Oklahoma counties to enact burn bans
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Twitter
