In The News Pool Managers Keeping Water Clean With Less Chlorine (The Philadelphia Enquirer, July 10, 1997 by Anika M. Scott INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT) Chlorine, the chemical disinfectant used in everything from drinking water to hot tubs to dolphin pens, has had a near-monopoly on sanitizing swimming pools in most places. But at least three area pools -- the Rose Tree Woods Swim Club in Broomall, the Aronimink Golf Club in Newton Square, and one indoor pool at the Upper Main Line YMCA in Berwyn -- have replaced their chemical filter systems with systems that use up to 95 percent less chlorine. The process -- rarely used in Pennsylvania but more common in the West -- is called ionization. It purifies pool water by passing a 12-volt electrical current through copper and silver wires in the pool's filtration system. Copper and silver ions roam the pool, killing most bacteria. A small amount of chlorine is added to ensure sanitation. Advocates say that ionization is cost-effective and can curve side effects of chlorine, such as burning eyes, dried skin, fading swimsuits, and bleached hair. But the argument has not reached most pools in the five-county region. In interviews, pool managers at several YMCAs, public pools, and private clubs said they saw no need for change. The managers agreed with chemical industry officials, who say chlorine is generally safe, clean, and at least as effective as the new technique. On Memorial Day, Rose Tree, in Delaware County, introduced its ionization system in each of its three pools, at a total cost of $5,000, said Gordon Egan, a 16-year member of the pool board. The pool had been spending about $2,000 a year for chlorine alone. "The water's crystal clear, beautiful," he said. "We've had three or four new members who joined just because they didn't like chlorine." Egan said lab tests on pool water have shown the process works in killing bacteria. He also estimated that the pool would save $1,800 on chlorine over last season, and that electricity costs for three months of operation would be as low as $5. At Aronimink Golf Club in Delaware County, the racing pool is in its second summer with an ionization system. "We've been using less chlorine, and the pool clarity is terrific," said pool manager Pete Thompson. He said lab tests also had been adequate. The ionization system at the Upper Main Line Y in Chester County has not had such positive test results, said senior aquatic director Suzanne Ziegler. One of the Y's 11 pools has used the system for three or four years, but it "has not been working the way we want it to," she said. More chlorine has been added to bring the test result up to code. Ionization has been slow to arrive on the East Coast, said Tom Colosimo, president of the Arizona-based Sigma Pool Co., which sold Rose Tree its unit. The majority of Sigma's sales have been in the West. In Pennsylvania, Colosimo said, Sigma has sold about 10 units in the Dauphin County area, mostly to homeowners with backward pools. David Patti, director of the Pennsylvania Chemical Industry Council and a former lifeguard, said that Rose Tree was the first commercial pool he had heard of in Pennsylvania to use ionization. The system of pools run by the Philadelphia Department of Recreation still uses chlorine, as do many YMCA pools and other large pools, from Oxford Valley in Bucks County to Belmont Hills in Lower Merion. Advocates of ionization insist that their method is more effective at ridding pools of germs then chlorine alone. Colosimo said that pools in cold-water parts of the country take a large number of bathers all at once, because of the short swimming season. "It can make a situation chlorine can't handle,"he said. "A combination of silver and chlorine kills bacteria three times faster than chlorine would on its own."