Swimming pool bosses across Stirling have detailed problems sourcing chemicals to clean the water amidst a national shortage.
Bosses at Active Stirling, which operates the pool at The PEAK, have adjusted public swimming times at the facility as they face a supply chain issues – with Covid and the war in Ukraine contributing to the scarcity of chlorine.
And at McLaren Leisure, in Callander, managers have opted to spend £30,000 on a piece of equipment which makes its own cleaning solution to treat the water there.
McLaren Leisure invested the sum in a Hyprolyser to avoid pool closures there. Hyprolyser electrochlorination systems provide an on-demand supply of <1.0% sodium hypochlorite solution, generated through the electrolysis of diluted brine solution.
Despite spending the eye-watering sum on the device, bosses at the centre say that it is an investment which will reduce costs in the long-term.
Chlorine is used in swimming pools as a disinfectant that helps to kill harmful bacteria and the amount used is dependent on a variety of factors including facility set points, bather loads and pre-swim hygiene.
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Chlorine can also come in a variety of chemical forms and operators who use chlorine as their main form of disinfectant will have specific dosing systems within the pool water treatment plant for either briquettes, granules or liquid forms of the substance.
Trish Thompson, centre manager at McLaren Leisure, said: “We have had to invest in a Hyprolyser, at significant cost, to avoid pool closures. We have the new equipment and are just waiting to have it fitted but the chlorine crisis is a real concern for all pools along with mounting energy costs.
Bosses at The PEAK had previously moved to a reduced timetable back in July so that the chlorine supply could be maintained.
This week, it was revealed that opening times are to be increased. From Monday, September 19, the pool will be open to swimmers from 6am until 9pm from Monday to Thursday, 6am until 7pm on Friday, 8.15am until 5pm on Saturday and 8am until 5pm on Sunday.
Speaking to the Observer this week, a spokesperson for Active Stirling said: “Global supply chains have been severely impacted following Covid, the economic recovery, energy supply challenges and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“Ukraine is an important global source of chemicals and raw materials for chemical manufacturers including ferrous/iron products, manganese, sulphur, titanium and magnesium and so potential impact of these latest developments extends also to supply chain of chemicals, such as chlorine.
“These supply issues have meant that availability and delivery of supplies have not been to the standards you would normally expect, with growing lead-times, product availability and very volatile pricing.
“With the potential for additional disruption, along with the effects of various sanctions now being imposed, unfortunately the situation remains precarious.”
The PEAK made changes to the chlorine dosing systems to ensure they could use both briquettes and granular forms of chlorine, along with reducing the dosing set points but keeping within the safe parameters as advised by the Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group (PWTAG).
The spokesperson added: “These changes enabled us to prolong the supply, but further measures were needed to ensure we could remain operational based on the reduced delivery schedules.
“The reduction of facility opening times to public swimming and reinforcing the importance of pre-swim hygiene were the final measures before we would need to consider closing the pools temporarily.
“Reducing public access to the pool simply enables us to limit bather loads which in turn reduces the amount of chlorine dosed and the request for all swimmers to shower thoroughly before they access the pools also limits the amount of chlorine required as there is less bacteria in the water.
“The combination of all these control measures has kept our pools open throughout the supply chain challenges where other operators have experienced periods of partial and/or full closure and we are now in a position to increase public swimming access to our pools from Monday, September 19.”
The pool at Stirling University’s National Swimming Academy remains unaffected by the shortage.
