New Fargo Cass Public Health policy targets pools that repeatedly run afoul of water quality tests

FARGO — Operators of certain local swimming pools, spas and hot tubs could face possible fines and license revocation if they repeatedly run afoul of water quality standards meant to keep swimmers safe.

A new probation policy for public and semi-public pools licensed by Fargo Cass Public Health takes effect on January 1, 2024.

The policy will pertain to nearly 80 pools the agency inspects and tests at schools, park facilities, hotels, fitness centers, senior care facilities and apartment buildings in Fargo and West Fargo.

Health inspector Chris Ohman said the policy came about due to repeat violators — pools that have continued to fail water quality tests year after year.

“We needed to really start putting a microscope on some of the facilities,” Ohman said.

A pool or hot tub that doesn’t meet water quality standards can put swimmers at risk for skin rashes, eye irritation and respiratory infections such as Legionnaires’ disease, a serious type of bacterial pneumonia that can be deadly.

Infections from certain strains of E. coli, Cryptosporidium and other germs that cause diarrhea and vomiting can also be caused by a poorly maintained pool.

The Forum requested data from FCPH to learn how often it steps in to close pools and spas and for what reason.

The agency provided alphabetical lists of all the bodies of water it inspected and monitored between 2020 and May of 2023, and The Forum tabulated the number of days the agency closed one or more bodies of water at a given facility.

Certain hotels and one apartment complex had the most violations during that period.

The C’mon Inn in Fargo had the highest number of FCPH closure days at 28.

General Manager Dean Rich said the hotel also has more bodies of water — a large pool, a wading pool and five hot tubs, and it tests them three times a day, at minimum.

He’s not sure yet how the change will affect their operation.

“I'm hopeful it's not gonna hurt us too bad or anybody in town, actually,” Rich said.

The probation policy will kick in if a pool has three closures by FCPH in one quarter, if one pool test or two or more spa water tests show zero residual disinfectant, or if a pool is reopened without clearance from the agency after a closure.

Financial penalties take effect if a pool operator on probation self-reopens after being closed; $500 for a first offense, $1,000 for a second offense and another $1,000 penalty, plus possible license revocation, for a third offense.

“We want to be helpful to our operators to provide education, but we also have to regulate and ensure that proper water quality is happening for bather safety,” Ohman said.

The new probation policy from Fargo Cass Public Health was drafted and approved in early 2020 but wasn’t implemented then because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pool operators learned about it during an aquatics seminar in April of this year, giving them time to understand the policy before it takes effect.

The agency makes sure pools are safe by performing full inspections at least twice a year at every public and semi-public pool in Fargo and West Fargo and other pools in Cass County and Richland County.

If concerns are brought forward they’ll do another full inspection, which was the case in late May when an acid spill at La Quinta Inn & Suites in Fargo sickened around ten children.

The agency also does random water quality testing twice a month at each of those public and semi-public pool sites.

Per FCPH water quality standards, free chlorine for disinfection should measure one to 10 parts per million for pools and three to 10 ppm for hot tubs or spas.

Only a few pools they test use bromine for disinfection and those levels should be at least three parts per million for pools and at least four parts per million for hot tubs/spas.

A pool with a bromine concentration over 20 parts per million would be closed, Ohman said.

As for pH level, it should measure between 6.8 to 8.0 to minimize skin and eye irritation.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a pH range of 7.2 to 7.8, and Ohman said Fargo Cass Public Health will eventually move toward that narrower range as it updates ordinances over time.

If a pool or spa doesn’t meet water quality standards, the agency will close it and post a red sign in a visible place.

After the pool operator properly treats the water, an inspector will come back the following day for a recheck.

Ohman said he understands that every body of water can have an off day here and there, through no fault of the person maintaining it.

“Fifteen wrestlers jump into a hot tub when it's only designed to hold six. No system's going to maintain that,” Ohman said.

At the C’mon Inn, Rich said if one of their hot tubs gets shut down, it’s usually after a morning visit by an inspector, before hotel staff has been able to test.

The tubs don’t get used much in the morning but “definitely get pounded at night,” he said.

Brad Renslow is the new general manager at the DoubleTree near Sanford Medical Center in West Fargo, a hotel that has one pool and one spa.

With the high water temperature of a spa or hot tub, they can be more challenging to treat.

“They can change within an hour,” Renslow said.

In the FCPH data, virtually all of the pools and spas with the highest number of forced closures were in hotels, but one apartment complex was also included.

Latitude 46 in West Fargo had a pool or spa closed on 24 days from 2020 through May of 2023. The Forum’s request for comment from its property management company was not returned.

Ohman said a better option than Fargo Cass Public Health having to close a pool is for operators to self-close any pool or spa that’s not meeting water quality standards.

Those self-closures aren’t seen as a strike against the operator and don’t count toward possible probation for a pool.

“We want them to be testing their bodies of water to ensure they're meeting minimum safety requirements,” he said.

For patrons of pools, Ohman offers a telltale sign that pool water might be unsafe. They might think a strong chlorine smell is an indication of a clean pool; instead, that’s the smell of chloramines, he said.

When chlorine binds to body wastes that swimmers bring into pools, like sweat and urine, it can form chloramines, according to the CDC.

Those chemicals will irritate skin, eyes and the respiratory tract when they are emitted into the air, particularly indoors.

“That's telling you essentially you're walking into maybe a dirty pool,” Ohman said.

He said keeping swimmers and bathers safe and healthy can happen with a teamwork approach between pool operators and public health, and the hotel general managers The Forum spoke with agreed.

“If you’re on top of it all the time and run a good operation, it shouldn't be a problem. If not, it’s going to be tough,” Renslow said.

“You won’t have a problem if you're working together,” said Rich.