Will The Chlorine Shortage Keep Michiganders From Opening Their Pools This Summer?

Michigan temperatures are getting into the 90's and normally everyone would be running for their backyard pools, but this year is different.

Depending on where you live, the first weekend of June is usually the perfect time to open your pool in Michigan. Most of the cotton wood, and those whirly seeds have fallen to the ground. The pool is the perfect option because most of the lakes are still a little too cold to jump in yet. Some Michiganders are choosing to leave their pool covered this year due to the chlorine shortage.

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Normally opening the pool is a fairly easy process, as well as keeping it maintained throughout the summer. Thanks to the pandemic, this year is going to be much different.

We are in the middle of a chlorine shortage that has made the chlorine tablets for your pool extremely hard to find. The people that are finding tablets are now hoarding the supplies that stores have, making the shortage worse. With the laws of supply and demand waiting in the wings, the price of chlorine has also started to go through the roof.

Pool supply retailers are asking people not to panic buy, but we all saw how well that worked with toilet paper.

So what are my pool options?

Things are pretty straight forward when it comes to your options. You can pay the high prices and just accept that it will be an expensive pool summer.

Liquid chlorine is an option, but you'll have to use a lot of it to do the same job that the tablets do. The liquid chlorine does the job, but you'll have to watch your chemical balance closer.

You could switch your pool to a salt water pool. This is a good option even without a chlorine shortage in my opinion. Salt water pools are easier to maintain, and after the initial switch over expenses, it's cheaper to maintain.

It will be interesting to see how many people just dive in and open their pool this year despite the chlorine issues. I just hope we don't all end up with green water that even the birds won't touch.

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