A swimming pool is a great feature to have for your home. Just like with other home amenities, you need to take care of your pool, especially its water. A competent pool contractor can help test the levels of chlorine, the pH, the alkalinity, and calcium hardness in your pool. If the water isn’t tested and treated, it can lead to a great many problems. Here are some of them.

Growth of Algae

Algae bloom when the pH of the pool water is unbalanced and bacteria and microorganisms are allowed to grow. Algae are not only unsightly as they cling to the walls of your swimming pool, but they make surfaces slick. This sets up trip and fall hazards.

Health Risks

The bacteria attracted to algae in your pool can pose serious health risks to swimmers. Without regular water testing, a wide range of illnesses can develop, such as:

• Skin rashes, including swimmer’s itch; this itch is caused when tiny parasites in the pool water burrow into your skin, and the rash comes when your body sets up an allergic reaction
• Red, burning eyes
• Swimmer’s ear
• Coughing and wheezing when you come into contact with chloramines; this is a rancid stew of chlorine and contaminants such as bodily fluids that haven’t been removed from the pool

An untested pool can be so contaminated that it can even lead to hepatitis A, urinary tract infections, giardiasis and other serious problems.

Discolored Water

Another consequence of a pool that goes untested and untreated is turbid, green water. No one wants to swim in water that even looks unsanitary.

Bad Smells

As your family and friends don’t want to swim in a pool that looks full of green slime, they also won’t want to swim in water that smells bad. Bad smells are also the result of chloramines in the water.

Structural Damage

The bad things that happen when your pool water goes untested don’t just include the attractiveness of the water and the threats to your health. The very structure of the pool can be threatened. If the chemical composition of the pool isn’t tested and corrected, the imbalance can corrode metal, crack the pool tiles and cause pitting in a fiberglass shell.

Before you enjoy your pool, you need to make sure its water is safe to swim in. Regular testing not only protects the health of you and your family, but it also protects your investment. For water testing, call our technicians at S&R Pool & Spa of Hillsborough, New Jersey.