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Subscribe to RSSINDIANAPOLIS -- Dozens of people at a crowded public swimming pool were sickened Thursday by an excessive amount of a water-purifying chemical in the pool, authorities said.
The Garfield Aquatics Center was evacuated after a reported chemical spill.
The chlorine-based purifying chemical, called "Magic Acid," caused nausea, coughing and watery eyes among the swimmers, many of them children, and 71 people were taken to hospitals, Todd Harper of the Indianapolis Emergency Services said.
Twenty-one were taken by ambulance and another 50 by bus, NBC station WTHR reported.
All were listed in fair condition, and none of the injuries were considered life-threatening, he said.
It's believed the chemicals were dumped into the water around 2 p.m.
Marc Lotter, a spokesman for the mayor's office, said the incident was caused by a chemical imbalance in the pool. WTHR reported it's believed that a muriatic acid product reacted with a chlorine-like substance to treat the pool. Officials are investigating whether or not a worker mixed the chemicals incorrectly.
The incident closed the center for the rest of the day.
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Leave a Comment:
Concentrated doses of those water treatment chemicals shold not be administered when the pool is open. Those chemicals should be added after closing and circulated before people get in the water. Chlorine tables can be replaced when operational but the chems should be added when it's closed.
Queue up the lawsuits in 3...2...1...
Well the people SHOULD sue over this.
I have a pool and Champion is right. Never shock the pool with people in there even if it floating tabs. There might have been a perceived need in this case as a real "Baby Ruth" might have been floating earlier and fished out. Public pools are nasty as everyone does pee in them and is the reason they go 3 times on the chlorine...........
Love the Caddyshack reference! But both are right. Don't know much about pool chemistry but the bare basics, bet even I know some chemicals are meant, and work best when done when the pool is closed. Some are really nasty to humans and pets alike. Now, it's possible one of the injector systems that pump small doses of chemical into the pool when open, all day long, went nuts. Lots of variables, need to know more.
After getting a pool and seeing what pool water should actually look like when properly balanced, I can never see me entering a public pool or waterpark again. Yeah, I know you're talking hundreds of people in a public pool, but I don't see that as an excuse to accept dirty, cloudy pool water.
Nasty People! Oooooooooooooooohyea!