Defecation!

I know that on the day when there was a code red heat advisory, breaks were extended to 15 minutes so that people would have more time to rehydrate and reapply sunscreen (which not only protects from burns but also cools the skin). So a solution to the dehydration problem could be making the breaks longer.

 

I'm guessing here, but I think there would be screams of outrage if we lenghtened the breaks from 10 to 15 minutes. As most of you are aware, there is almost no one in the pools during these breaks and the kids are sitting on the sides waiting to get back in.
You're allowed to get out of the pool and hit the bathroom or apply sunscreen at times OTHER than the 10 munite break.

 

Hi Cliff! All that you say is very true but I'm wondering if extending the breaks because of the incidents and making sure those eager kids are aware the breaks are extended because of the frequency of the incidents may even make these kids "self-police" one another and help resolve the problem! Right now if the pool just keeps getting shut down, it's an inconvenience and families shift to other pools. But if other restrictions are put in place until the frequency of incidents stop then maybe it's worth a try...

 

People gotta stop eating those chili dogs over at the Circle K.

 

How many times have the pools been closed this year as opposed to previous years?

 

I worked as a lifeguard for two years at a community pool and spent countless hours there growing up and we never had a defecation. Our shallowest point was 3 feet so there weren't the very young kids like at Summerbrooke; but, occurrences at Southern Walk seem ridiculous.

Extending breaks to 15 minutes is not the answer; our breaks were always 10 minutes except on weekends when it was 15. But that was so parents could get in without kids.

I'll concede that extending them to 15 on a code red day might make sense. Though 10 minutes is plenty of time to get a drink and apply suntan lotion; and getting back in the water seems cooler than sitting on the edge...there aren't enough umbrellas to keep everybody in the shade for 15 minutes.

 

If you worked at a pool that never had a defecation, then you are the exception to the rule.

Breaks are not meant as a time to get a drink of water or put on sunscreen as these activities can be done at any time. Breaks are designed to make kids get out and rest. Otherwise they will stay in the water too long and become tired swimmers. That is why a vast majority of pools use a 15 minute break.

 

If it makes anyone feel better, I went to the Lansdowne Potomac Club today & their pool was closed until 7 due to an "accident".

 

The simple solution to all of the issues is for parents to exercise responsibility for their children. I have spent a lot of time at all three pools this summer and I have a lot of complaints about parents - and none about the lifeguards. PARENTS need to watch their children, especially the non-swimmers. PARENTS need to make sure their kids are wearing the right diapers - then check them often. PARENTS need to monitor the activity of their kids to ensure they don't get so tired they can't make it to the bathroom. And, parents should, at least once this summer, tell the lifeguards "thank you" for watching out for everybody.

 

You hit the nail on the head Freddy....You said everything I've been thinking!! Well put!

 

Well put Freddy!

 

So, why was the Southern Walk pool closing down at 7pm on Sunday night? Posted hours are until 8pm...no sign up except for an old one about the pool being closed for a swim team party.

 

Swim tam party was last night.

The call I got was they heard thunder at just before 7 and again at 7:10 since they have to close for 45 min with each heard thunder the pool would not open again until 7:55 and thus not worth staying open those last 5 min.
I was not in the area so like I said it was the call that I gotfrom the pool company

Staci

 

I also heard the thunder and saw the storm clouds tonight. Unfortunately, no rain!

 

Summerbrook closed on Saturday and Southern Walk closed again yesterday.

I grew up in Sterling Park and there are 2 olympic sized community pools that rarely ever shutdown for anything. IMO our pools are being closed WAAAY to often. Does anyone know if "parts per cubic (whatever)" have changed in recent years?

Staci, do you have any numbers of how many times the pools have been shutdown this year for non-weather issues? TIA

 

Anything foriegn sutbstance in the pool requires it to be shut down for the full cycle of the filtration system. For most pools that is somewhere between 6 and 8 hours all 3 of our pools have pump systems that filtrate the whole pool in 6 hours.

This season has definatly been higher then most and based on the numbers that I have the last time we had anything like this was 2002 (another hot summer like this one) but we did not have SW for that whole season so it did not seem like as many.
I know for sure of 7 closings for defication at summerbrooke pool this season
and I know of 4 defications 2 vomits and 1 vandelism at Southernwalk pool.
I am working right now on revising the rules for next season so if any one has any suggestios they would like to suggest on ways to cut down (as we will never eliminate) I am happy to go over them with you. you can PM me here or get my email or number from the newsletter
Staci

 

It was thundering for at least 90 minutes yesterday afternoon.

 

There was also a defication at Southernwalk about 1pm. they had everything cleaned out by around 1:20 and were planning to reopen weather dependent around 7:20pm. I am not sure if they ended up opening or not with the weather , but they were closed a good bit of the day

Staci

 

Penalty for repeat offenders next season? Don't know if that is even reasonable, but it seems like something needs to be done.