Cookeville Water Department On How To Properly Dispose Of Pool Cleaners

It’s pool season, and the Cookeville Water Department wants to ensure you safely dispose of your water when cleaning your pool.

City Storm Water Manager Mary Beth Elrod said it is important to allow pool water to dissipate and filter for at least 24 hours before discharging, to allow the chlorine to volatilize. She said it is also important to be mindful of where you are discharging water.

“Make sure it’s going into a grassy area to where it has room to spread out,” Elrod said. “And you’re not dumping it right out onto your neighbor or directly into a spring where it can cause erosion, or the banks to wash out, or the dirt to evaporate.”

Elrod said it is also important to discharge pool water too quickly, as that can lead to problems as well.

“You want to be mindful of the rate of the discharge,” Elrod said. “You want to kind of slowly allow it to go out, allow the ground around it to saturate and soak it in, and not just flood your neighbors and cause erosion on your neighbors or in local streams.”

Elrod said pools that are cleaned with anything other than chlorine must be sent to the sanitary sewer. She said if you are unable to do so, you must contact the State to properly dispose of non-chlorine.

“The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has some permits and procedures on being able to discharge that,” Elrod said. “And that’s where you would contact the state if you can not send it to your sanitary sewer.”

Elrod said no permits are needed to dispose of chlorine. She said to connect your pool to a sanitary sewer for disposing of non-chlorine pool cleaners, you must contact the City of Cookeville’s Sewer Department.