Chlorine As A Disinfecting Agent In Swimming Pools

Swimming pools have risen in popularity over the years, meaning that we have also developed more effective ways of keeping a hygienic and safe environment for people to swim in. The issue that was encountered was the bacterial properties that still water could collect, such as escherichia coli which could lead to digestion problems. The element that is the most commonly used to divert harmful bacteria is Chlorine. Using chlorine can eliminate all the issues faced with using still water. Proportions have to be accurate, if the chemical balance is wrong it could potentially damage the pool and the ones swimming.

The process is quite smooth and involves the form of chlorine chemical compound; calcium hypochlorite or sodium hypochlorite. In water, the two compounds combine to form a chemical called hypochlorous acid and hypochlorous ion. These two compounds kill bacteria and pathogens through deteriorating the cell walls containing lipids. This process leaves the pathogens and bacteria cells oxidized, making them harmless to us; this is called an oxidation reaction. According to CDC; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chlorine works safely when accurately measured and in intermediate doses. High doses are harmful, but when put into water the chemical spreads throughout creating small levels of toxicity; safe to drink.

There are many advantages to the use of chlorine in drinking water and swimming pools. Before cities began to use chlorine to clean and disinfect their water, thousands died per year due to bacteria and dangerous pathogens that lived within the still water. Waterborne bacteria has also caused cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery and hepatitis type A. Chlorine in pools and spa areas have also kept a stable hygienic environment, avoiding skin rashes and diarrhea caused by the untreated pathogens. Other than health-related advantages, chlorine is also simple and straightforward to use as a disinfecting agent according to the CDC; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, it is proven that chlorine provides a “residual” effect, meaning that it eliminates harmful pathogens from the water long term, overall creating a less rapid rate of these waterborne bacteria. The economical factors are also greatly beneficial, as other disinfecting agents have an effective but pricey result.

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Although the advantages are quite positive and fill out all worry aspects, chlorine also come with many disadvantages. Firstly, due to the fact that chlorine is highly reactive when in contact with ammonia, only when people sweat or urinate in the pool. This creates amines that could lead to irritation to the eyes. Furthermore, chlorine could potentially strip/reduce the quantity of your hair's natural oils leaving the hair weak or still. Adding onto the previous point, chlorine also highly affects the hair follicles causing future hair loss, although it is quite a reach and is not a primary reason as to why one may experience hair loss. Chlorine could cause acne, which is more prone to teenagers than any other age group. Looking at the social disadvantages, many are quite insecure about having acne and could ruin or damage one's self image. In another perspective, acne shows up due to either infected or inflamed sebaceous glands, which connects to a health disadvantage. Finally, inexperienced dosers could add too much chlorine, which as stated above; 'If the chemical balance is wrong it could potentially damage the pool and the ones swimming'. According to GHC; Global Healing Center, there are specific irritants named trichloramines which once again, reacts with organic materials such as sweat and urine. Trichloramines are believed to biologically destroy the cell barriers around the lungs.

Comparing the prices of other methods of creating pools, and other elements used as disinfecting agents, I could conclude that chlorine has an overall lower cost for maintenance and product than other methods. There are many, but I will state one example. To create a brief comparison, saltwater is also used for swimming pools. On a yearly average, chlorine pools invest around 300-800 USD. On the other hand, saltwater pools cost 70-100 USD, purely for the water. Contradicting to the lower price, the saltwater pools has other machinery to support it, leading to an approximate overall price of 1600 USD; data collected from fixit, citation in bibliography. Looking at these numbers, chlorine is much more beneficial economic wise, as it saves much more money for the same time period. Once again, chlorine has lower maintenance than other methods. Another example could be bromine. Bromine is also used in pools as a disinfecting agent, with one little problem. Bromine also requires a small dose of chlorine, meaning that there are zero benefits in investing in this method. Saltwater does not require any chlorine, but as shown above is in fact more pricey, with an average of 1100 USD saved. In the image included with this paragraph, it displays the process of the saltwater generator functions. Although that is what it displays, the point of the image is to simply show why the saltwater generator adds an extra expense to the initial cost. Drawing a conclusion, chlorine is an economically safe investment for the long term.

After I have researched and created this essay, I have drawn my own personal conclusion to using chlorine as a disinfecting agent. I personally think that using chlorine was indeed a smart and economically safe choice. Although I disagree with using chlorine to disinfect drinking water, I am aware that the advantages of this method completely outweigh the disadvantages.