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SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake County Health Department announced Monday that a fourth of public swimming pools in the county will be closed because they do not meet Utah's new interlock safety requirements.
The health department said 163 of the 649 year-round or winter-seasonal pools in the county are subject to closure starting Feb. 1. "Public pools" can include neighborhood pools, pools found at apartment and condo complexes, hotels and motels, or even splash pads.
The other 486 pools are compliant with the state's requirement of a chemical feed system that is electronically "interlocked" with its water circulation system.
This interlocking system prevents chemicals from continually dispensing if the water circulation system stops functioning, a press release from the health department said. This can lead to a buildup of chlorine and muriatic acid (also known as hydrochloric acid), creating chlorine gas and potentially causing illness, lung damage or in extreme cases, death, the release continues.
An equipment malfunction led to a chemical buildup and release of chlorine gas at the Veterans Memorial Pool in Pleasant Grove in June 2019. Around 50 people got sick and several were transported to the hospital.
Utah updated its pool rule in August 2020 to prevent similar incidents. The new rule required all public pools to have implemented interlocking systems by Jan. 31, 2023.
The health department said they have been providing all affected pools with multiple written, phone and in-person reminders about the state's new requirement and compliance deadline. These reminders included an email in October 2021 and May 2022, "a verbal, in-person reminder during every pool's annual inspection in 2022," a letter mailed in November 2022 and a phone call in January 2023 to pools not yet compliant.
Most newly constructed pools already meet the requirement as the interlock system is an industrywide safety standard, the health department said. All pools operated by Salt Lake County Parks & Recreation meet the new interlock rule, the department said.
Starting in spring, inspectors will begin enforcement of an additional 641 pools that operate seasonally in the summer.
Pool closures can be found on the health department's website. Closures related to the interlock rule will begin on Wednesday and be posted beginning Thursday.
