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Dirty pools in metro Atlanta face wave of closures

JUNE 4, 2015 POWDER SPRINGS Addison Wells, 5 of Powder Springs, gets set to splash around in the Seven Springs Water Park in Powder Springs, Thursday, June 4, 2015. This is a new water park which had to undergo initial inspection before opening. Hundreds of swimming pools in metro Atlanta have failed inspections in recent months for health violations, according to data collected and analyzed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Inspectors found algae blooms in some pools. Others contained no chlorine. Another had become home to a colony of frogs. KENT D. JOHNSON /KDJOHNSON@AJC.COM
JUNE 4, 2015 POWDER SPRINGS Addison Wells, 5 of Powder Springs, gets set to splash around in the Seven Springs Water Park in Powder Springs, Thursday, June 4, 2015. This is a new water park which had to undergo initial inspection before opening. Hundreds of swimming pools in metro Atlanta have failed inspections in recent months for health violations, according to data collected and analyzed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Inspectors found algae blooms in some pools. Others contained no chlorine. Another had become home to a colony of frogs. KENT D. JOHNSON /KDJOHNSON@AJC.COM
By
June 8, 2015

A dead rabbit. A colony of frogs. Water tinged green with algae.

Those were some findings of county inspectors who examined swimming pools in metro Atlanta in recent years.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution collected and analyzed thousands of county records and found that about one out of every six inspections of swimming pools, spas and water parks resulted in a closure. The data covered more than 15,000 inspections in four metro-Atlanta counties over the last 2 1/2 years.

The results can be gross. But germs or parasites can also pose a health risk for swimmers. Last year, an outbreak of cryptosporidosis linked to a private swim club pool in DeKalb County sickened 63 people

For a complete database where you can see how your local pool stacks up, and our full story, go to MyAJC.

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