News

Pool chlorine may have caused fish kill, city says

By Bill Moss, Published: April 4, 2013

The city of Hendersonville said it may have inadvertently caused the pollution that killed fish in Britain Creek at Patton Park.

"As a result of the fish kill at Patton Park that was discovered on April 2, the City of Hendersonville has been working with the North Carolina Division of Water Quality and the Environmental and Conservation Organization to determine the possible cause of the kill," the city's news release.
In a news report on the fish kill in Wednesday's issue, the Times-News said 70 to 100 fish may have been killed by a pollutant that entered the creek that runs through the city park. The city said 8-10 gallons of diluted pool chlorine may have caused the fish kill.
"Upon completing an internal investigation," the city's news release said, "it was discovered that a small amount of chlorinated water was pumped out of the pool area and onto the adjacent parking lot where it could have entered Britain Creek."
"In the course of cleaning the pool in preparation for the upcoming season, the pool was drained using an internal pump that discharges into the sanitary sewer system. However, there is a small amount of water that has to be removed using a submersible pump."
"Up until this point, there were no chemicals of any kind in the water. City employees then introduced chlorine at the very end of the process to clean the walls and floor of the pool with scrub brushes and washed everything down with water. Unfortunately, they did not redirect the sump pump to the sanitary sewer system which allowed approximately 8-10 gallons of diluted chlorinated water to drain onto the parking lot approximately 200 feet from the creek.
"This was not a standard procedure for cleaning the pool but an innocent oversight that was certainly not intentional but profoundly regrettable nonetheless."