Cleaning up pool water after California wildfires

[Oz_Stark]

As most of you know there has been an ongoing struggle with wildfires here in CA. We had been evacuated here in Lake Elsinore and we were fortunate enough to have amazing firefighters and others who have saved our homes. Few days ago we have been allowed to be back to our homes and as a pool owner was in shock to see the amount of ash in our pool.
Cut to the chase I did all the basics. Vacuumed the pool. Cleaned the skimmers. I cleaned the DE filters and reapplied DE. The pH and all is almost stable. All ash is almost gone but one of my concerns is the toxicity of the water.

Should I be concerned of toxins in the water due to the ashes sitting in it for almost a week? Is there anything extra that can be done to make the water safe for swimming specially for my 2 and 5 years olds.

Thank you in advance.

[PoolDoc]

Sorry about the problems.

On to your question: Is your pool water safe?

1. The absolute answer is, "Nobody knows without massively expensive testing!"
2. The practical answer is, "Probably, especially if you take some precautions."

I did a bit of research and posted some of the results, below. The first article seemed most relevant to me. There are some things to keep in mind, if you read them:

• Technical writers want to be read, just like mass media writers. Hysterical language attracts more interest.
• Without a lot of experience and knowledge of statistics, toxicological (how poisonous is it?) is hard to read and understand. Most of the "dangerous carcinogenic toxins" the media gets all excited about are FAR LESS toxic in their effects than drinking 2 shots per day, instead of 1, and far, far, FAR LESS than smoking.
• Even with 'toxins' the HIGH RISK event associated with pools is DROWNING.

Anyhow, here's what I'd recommend.

• Set your pump to run 24/7 and turn off or disconnect any devices (salt water chlorinators, ozonators, ionizers, etc.)
• Raise the chlorine level to 10 ppm or higher and KEEP IT THERE.
• Raise the pH to near 8.0
• Hold those conditions for a week.
• During this time, remove all visible debris. Brush the pool completely at LEAST once.
• THEN, open the DE filter and wash it clean.
• Return to normal levels. Once pH levels are below 7.8, you can swim.

What the process above will tend to do is

• Trap any toxic metals on the filter
• Oxidize any toxic organics
• Filter any particles.

If you don't have one, you'll need a K2006 kit (from Amazon) to manage chlorine levels above 5 ppm.

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• http://journals.plos.org/plosone/art...l.pone.0153372
• http://forestandrange.org/modules/af...pdfs/water.pdf
• https://ca.water.usgs.gov/wildfires/...r-quality.html
• http://ftp.sccwrp.org/pub/download/D...toringPlan.pdf
• https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_journa...regai_t001.pdf

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[PoolDoc]

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