The typical pool has a chlorine concentration ranging from 1 to 3 PPM (parts per million.

The typical drinking water has a chlorine concentration ranging from 0.2 to 3 PPM.

3 PPM of chlorine is very drinkable. I consider my pool as a ready source of 15,400 gallons of excellent drinking water. Unfortunately in winter the surface is likely to be frozen and the water won't have sufficient chlorine to be safe. If nothing else I could chip off some, melt it, and use household bleach to disinfect it as needed.

If the power was out, without filtering the water's particulates would likely increase over time, but it is still sterile - assuming the chlorine level is kept up (I use a floating device that holds chlorine tablets and doesn't require electricity to function). Pouring the water through a coffee filter would get rid of much of the paticulates.

When the chlorine in pools contacts organic matter, it forms something called chloramine - this is most likely the thing you smell - not the free chlorine that does the disinfecting. Chloramine smells a lot and burns eyes, and doesn't disinfect as well as free chlorine. Every once in a while the pool owner needs to "shock" the pool by temporarily bringing the chlorine concentration up to around 10-12 PPM. This removes the chloramines (converts chloramine to free chlorine, nitrogen gas, and water). After a short time the sun will "burn" off the extra chlorine and the chlorine level will return to a more normal 1-3 PPM.

There is your pool chemistry lesson for the day. Next week we will discuss how cyanuric acid - also called "stabilizer" or conditioner -acts as a sunscreen to prevent the sun's UV radiation from driving off chlorine from the pool

Ken K.