WEBVTT - Why Is There a Chlorine Shortage?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. As the summer of was

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<v Speaker 1>coming to a close, a buzz was sounding among those

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<v Speaker 1>in the swimming pool industry. Chlorine was becoming scarce and

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<v Speaker 1>it wasn't going to get better anytime soon. Industry experts

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<v Speaker 1>knew what a chlorine shortage would mean. Pool owners would

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<v Speaker 1>be left scrambling for this pool sanitizer and spending much

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<v Speaker 1>more per bucket, possibly hoarding the tablets or looking for

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<v Speaker 1>alternatives to keep their pools clean and safe. But at

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<v Speaker 1>the time, the public remained largely unaware, more focused on

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<v Speaker 1>the global COVID nineteen pandemic and the heated presidential election.

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<v Speaker 1>A cooler weather was also coming, and pools across the

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<v Speaker 1>country were beginning to close. The fallout from the Great

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<v Speaker 1>chlorine Shortage of wouldn't be realized until the warmer weather

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<v Speaker 1>returned the following year. Fast forward to just as quickly

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<v Speaker 1>as spring flowers began to blossom and pools began to open,

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<v Speaker 1>so did word of the chlorine shortage, leaving pool owners

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<v Speaker 1>and a lerch for the article this episode is based on,

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<v Speaker 1>has to Fork spoke with Rudy Stankowitz, a pool water

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<v Speaker 1>chemistry expert and CEO of Aquatic Facility Training and Consultants.

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<v Speaker 1>He calls the circumstances leading up to the shortage a

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<v Speaker 1>perfect storm, and he sometimes calls it pool Mageddon. In

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<v Speaker 1>early when news first broke that the coronavirus had landed

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<v Speaker 1>on US soil, Americans scrambled to buy up hand sanitizers

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<v Speaker 1>to protect ourselves from the virus. Justice demand for the

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<v Speaker 1>products began to soar. The Food and Drug Administration or

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<v Speaker 1>f d A issued warnings to consumers that some hand

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<v Speaker 1>sanitizers contained methanol, a substance that can be toxic when

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<v Speaker 1>absorbed through the skin or ingested. Apprompted by the additional

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<v Speaker 1>strain on hand sanitizer products, the Centers for Disease Control

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<v Speaker 1>and Prevention or CDC issued recommendations on hand hygiene. In

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<v Speaker 1>cases where soap and water or alcohol based hand rubs

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<v Speaker 1>are not available, The CDC recommended some d i y

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<v Speaker 1>hand washing solutions that included chlorinated water made with chlorine powder.

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<v Speaker 1>Another strain on chlorine demand came from the boom in

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<v Speaker 1>residential pools, with amusement, park and event venue closures and

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<v Speaker 1>travel restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID. People were

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<v Speaker 1>stuck at home and forced to find their own forms

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<v Speaker 1>of entertainment. Some of the money people would have spent

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<v Speaker 1>on vacations got funneled into backyard swimming pools. Stankowitz said

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<v Speaker 1>of pools were a popular go to item to install,

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<v Speaker 1>and as a result, the industry grew fourteen percent last

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<v Speaker 1>year during the pandemic. So we have more water in

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<v Speaker 1>people's backyards than ever before, creating more and more demand.

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<v Speaker 1>But the big his hit came on August when Hurricane Laura,

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<v Speaker 1>of category four hurricane hit southwest Louisiana, triggering a fire

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<v Speaker 1>in bio Labs chlorine and disinfectant manufacturing plant. Bio Lab

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<v Speaker 1>is the largest chlorine producer in the United States, making

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<v Speaker 1>at least seventy of the chlorine tablets used by pool

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<v Speaker 1>owners in America. The chlorine plant, just west of Lake

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<v Speaker 1>Charles burned for more than fifty hours. The fire completely

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<v Speaker 1>shut down bio Labs production of chlorine tablets. In the

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<v Speaker 1>weeks and months that followed, warehouse supplies began to dwindle

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<v Speaker 1>and chlorine tablets became scarce. As a result, the price

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<v Speaker 1>of chlorine began to skyrocket. According to i h S

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<v Speaker 1>Market data cited by Goldman Sachs, chlorine prices are thirty

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<v Speaker 1>seven percent higher now than they were last spring. For reference,

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<v Speaker 1>a twenty five pound or eleven kilo bag of chlorine

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<v Speaker 1>tablets costs about a hundred and thirty five dollars today

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<v Speaker 1>compared to just eighty nine dollars in May of and

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<v Speaker 1>stank Witz doesn't expect the chlorine shortage to end this summer.

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<v Speaker 1>File apps production of chlorine tablets is not expected to

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<v Speaker 1>return to normal levels until April two. Meanwhile, demand for

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<v Speaker 1>chlorine is expected to increase as the number of residential

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<v Speaker 1>swimming pools continues to grow into According to Pool Corp,

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<v Speaker 1>a pool supply company, about a hundred and ten thousand

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<v Speaker 1>new pools are expected to be added in the US

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<v Speaker 1>this year, an increase of more than over twenties already

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<v Speaker 1>high numbers. What that means is pool owners can expect

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<v Speaker 1>to pay about fifty eight percent more for chlorine in June, July,

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<v Speaker 1>and auguste compared to last year, according to I h

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<v Speaker 1>S Market So up, are there any alternatives to chlorine tablets?

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<v Speaker 1>Chlorine is a necessary chemical to keep swimming pools safe

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<v Speaker 1>and clean. When added to swimming pool water, it forms

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<v Speaker 1>hypo chlorous acid, a mild disinfectant that prevents the growth

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<v Speaker 1>of algae. Chlorine kills bacteria like Salmonella and equal I

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<v Speaker 1>and can enactivate viruses that cause illnesses like diarrhea and

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<v Speaker 1>swimmer's ear. Even saltwater pools use special generators that turn

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<v Speaker 1>the salt you add to the water into chlorine to

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<v Speaker 1>keep the pool water safe. But what can pool owners

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<v Speaker 1>do if they can't get their hands on chlorine tablets first?

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<v Speaker 1>Other types of chlorine or colorine compounds in liquid or

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<v Speaker 1>powder forms can also be used. These should be more

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<v Speaker 1>readily available in stores as well. Stanko's explained that there

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<v Speaker 1>are also hacks that pool owners can use that enable

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<v Speaker 1>them to use less chlorine or use other products like bleach.

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<v Speaker 1>He wrote an entire book dedicated to the topic how

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<v Speaker 1>to Get rid of swimming pool algae. Doing your homework

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<v Speaker 1>before altering the chemicals in your pool is strongly recommended, though,

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<v Speaker 1>according to the CDC, pool chemical injuries send a up

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<v Speaker 1>four thousand five people to US emergency departments every year.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article National Chlorine Shortage

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<v Speaker 1>could Spoil the US Summer on Houstuffworks dot Com, written

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<v Speaker 1>by Jennifer Walker. Journey Brainstuffers production of I Heart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>in partnership with houstuffworks dot Com and is produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Playing for four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit

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