Lake of the Woods public pool fails first health inspection for insufficient chlorine levels

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Environmental Health workers from the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services Department are inspecting public and private pools across Columbia this week.

With summer quickly approaching, Columbia's public pools are opening soon. The Albert-Oakland Family Aquatic Center opens on Saturday, while the Lake of the Woods Pool and the Douglass Family Aquatic Center both open on May 28.

According to an online health inspection report, the Lake of the Woods pool failed an inspection on Wednesday. The inspection report reads, "Pool unable to open due to low chlorine concentration, inspector will return for opening." This pool was not open for the 2023 season.

"Our maintenance team is working on it.  Lake of the Woods hasn't been open since 2019," said Columbia Parks and Recreation Aquatics Manager Sydney Philpott. "There's things that happen whenever things haven't been open for years. But our maintenance team is on it, and they'll have it ready by the time that we open on Tuesday."

Philpott said the pool should be reinspected Thursday.

Sara Humm with the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services Department said that when a pool fails inspections, the pool has to close until it can pass an inspection.

"If the chlorine levels are too high, we'll work with them to make sure that the chlorine levels are back to a safe level, and we can come out of the next day and test," Humm said.

The Albert-Oakland and Douglass pools do not have online inspection reports yet for this year.

Last summer, inspectors didn't note any problems with the Douglass Spray Grounds, according to city records. However, in 2022, inspectors noticed repeated issues with the water pressure and were unable to give a passing inspection multiple times because they could not access the pump room.

The Albert-Oakland main pool had no issues last summer, according to city records. In September 2022, inspectors noted that the flow meter on the pool was not working properly, however, it was fixed by the next inspection a month later.

The kiddie pool at the Albert-Oakland Family Aquatic Center had some skimmer violations last summer, according to city records. In June, July and August 2023, inspectors noted issues with the skimmers, which are the nets used to clean pools. The inspections noticed that the skimmers were all dirty. The September 2023 inspection report does not note if the skimmers were cleaned.

Pools in Columbia have to abide by the following guidelines, according to the health department:

• Each pool or spa must be permitted annually.
• After the unit has been permitted, it is inspected monthly.
• Permits may be suspended if minimum standards are not met.
• The pools and spas are inspected for structure integrity, disinfectant levels, pH level, warning signs and presence of safety equipment.
• The facilities are checked for cleanliness and maintenance of the grounds, locker rooms and fencing.