Animal Poo and How Long to Wait

[SoCalBoo]

This isn't a joke.

Two raccoons were playing in the pool about 5a this morning (we get them about once a month). One left a little present that was found on the bottom of the pool this afternoon.

FC in the pool is 3ppm
No measurable CC
CYA is 45-50 (depends on how many beers I've had.... )

I've got my daughters' (yes, twins) 3 year old swim party tomorrow. So, do I shock the pool with bleach to 15ppm overnight, or just hope that the FC in the pool does its job.

I've got an SWG, with pump on right now in superchlorinate mode.

My guy reaction is that a quarter pound of raccoon poo (and whatever came off their fur and bodies) is gonna get nailed by the FC in the pool and isn't much to worry about. I also hate to have my chlorine up at 12-15ppm for the swim party. I know it's 'safe' to swim at those levels, but I'd prefer to avoid.

Your thoughts?

Also, the poo left a dark brown/black stain on my plaster. Any hits for removing it?

Thanks

[RavenNS]

okay, EEEwwww... someone had to say it (lol)

Off topic:
I feel for you regarding twins. I have three year monozygotic girls as well
& a four year old boy !
BTW, I hear the in some parts of the middle-east, " May you be the mother of twins"... is actually a curse!

do you have any non-chlorinating shock that you could use?

Good luck & enjoy the party... < giggle >

[waterbear]

YOu need to raise your FC level to shock level to sanitize the water after removing the 'poo'. You need to use chlorine and NOT non chlorine shock for this. I would raise the FC level to 20 ppm based on your CYA of 50 ppm just to be safe! Better to have the pool closed than risk any of the kids getting sick!

[chem geek]

I agree, though if the poo is fairly solid then scopping out at least gets most of it out of the pool. If it was runny...gee this is gross. Anyway, the general rule at commercial pools is that pee is one thing and not so bad (it's mostly just urea which is similar to ammonia anyway; not generally unhealthy bacteria) while poo is just cause for shutting it down.

The good news is that even with the higher shock chlorine levels, you may still be able to swim in it tomorrow with elevated chlorine levels. The same CYA that has you have to use so much chlorine to shock it is the same CYA that makes the effective disinfecting chlorine levels low enough to swim in (20 ppm FC with 50 CYA is about 0.4 ppm HOCl or equivalent to 0.8 ppm FC if there were no CYA).

If you find your CC > 0 (certainly if it's > 0.5) tomorrow morning, then you may be taking a risk with swimming in the pool so check your FC and TC tomorrow to be sure. As waterbear says, it's much better to be safe than sorry.

Richard

[waterbear]

if the 'poo' is not solid then the pool should be kept at shock level for 24 hours to be sure that any pathogens are killed!

[SoCalBoo]

Well, I dumped in enough bleach to jack up the FC to 20. Tested 3 hours later (pump running whole time, navigator on, turned SWG off), and FC is still 20, and no CC whatsoever.

The poo disentegrated quickly when my wife tried to get it out (I was still at work). Turned into dust. vaccuum has cleaned entire pool. most of the stains left by the poo have dissappeared.

I'll test in the morning and see what the FC and CC look like. Thanks for your help

[waterbear]

keep your vacumn and hose submerged in the pool while you shock. They need to be sanitized also! (rinse them out with a hose first to make sure there is not any residue inside) I hope you vacumned to waste and not to the filter!

[SoCalBoo]

duly noted waterbear. the navi and hose are in the pool and submerged, and will stay there. I had planned to do so anyways, but thanks for the reminder. brush is also in the pool

vacuum to waste...it is likely moot anyways as I suspect that most if not all was already filtered through main drain and/or skimmer before I got home. wife swept it down to main drain (actually, disintegrated when she tried) and needed to run pump to get water circulating (use SWG shock until I could get home with bleach hours later). regardless, I don't have a direct waste connection. my plumbing goes suction, pump, DE filter. no way to run the pool with out suction going straight to filter. as I told a judge in court the other day (yeah, I'm a darn attorney) - the facts are what they are (but easy to say then, when the facts were in my favor ).

my wife has already accepted that the swim party is likely to become a slip and slide party instead. life goes on. safety first. even if cc stays at 0, I've still got a chlorine level at 18ppm. I guess I'll cross that 'safety' bridge if and when I need to.

riddle me this batman - if raccoon poo disintegrates, goes into filter, and pool is shocked to appropriate level and holds overnight, with no measured CC at either nightime or next morning, when is one to presume that pathogens/nasty organics/etc are negated/zapped/killed? sounds like waterbear says 24 hours.

The raccoon timeline:

8/11/06
5a - raccoons playing and pooing (water 5fc, 0cc...has been for awhile)
noon - pump goes on with SWG going
1p - wife notices poop, brushes, disintegrates, hits shock button on SWG
5p - bleach added, fc up to 18, no cc
8p - sundown, test pool, still at 18fc, no cc

thanks again for your help. I enjoy learning what to (and not) do. Great site. Sleep well.

[SoCalBoo]

whoops, fc at 20. my bad. late. not enough sierra nevada.

[waterbear]

CDC guidelines for loose poop (since it disintegraged I think it applies) is 8 hours at 20 ppm FC with filter running then change filter media if you can't backwash.