What Should You Do About The Massive Chlorine Shortage Coming This Swim Season
Spoiler alert -- You can still swim in your pool, but you might need to make some adjustments.
- We are facing an unprecedented shortage of chlorine which could affect swimming this summer.
- Pool owners should expect to pay 50-60% more this summer for chlorine tablets
- The massive boom in pools created by, COVID-19 combined with a massive fire at a chlorine plant, are causing the chlorine shortage.
- If you manage or own a pool, you have several alternatives to chlorine, including bromine and saltwater solutions.
While everyone seems focused on the lumber and other building materials, which have become harder to find and much more expensive, we are facing a severe chlorine shortage that many people are going to be surprised about this summer. When made aware, many pool owners are shocked with the price increases in both pool supplies, as well as pool cleaning services. Unfortunately, we can all expect to pay more to clean and sanitize our swimming pools this summer. According to sell-side Wall Street analysts, the chlorine shortage first reported on in September has not improved AT ALL. The outlook looks like it will take through the summer for the situation to improve.
The investment bank, Goldman Sachs, is warning in a recent research report that the chlorine shortage in the U.S. has not improved over the past number of months. The initial problem, which lead to price increases stemmed from a huge fire at the factory facilities at BioLab, who had been one of the largest chlorine tablet factories in the United States. The hit to the country's supplies put more stress on the already dwindling supplies of chlorine tablets. Goldman Sachs indicated that prices for chlorine have gone up roughly 37% year over year due to the ongoing shortages. They expect prices to spike 58% year over year through June to August, which is the height of the pool season.
Many shops and pool service providers are under a lot of uncertainty as to whether they will be able to procure have enough chlorine for the Summer pool season. Additionally (as if all of the above was not enough) the industry is suffering from a plastic bucket shortage. The shortage was driven by the pandemic's reduced manufacturing situation. It difficult to procure certain volume sizes of chlorine tablets. Many suppliers are delivering chlorine in plastic bags or in buckets with mis-matched lids.
Homeowners, who are baring the brunt of the price increases, are looking for creative sanitization alternatives due to the shortage. This has mostly resulted in people changing their method of sanitization to another product, either a granular product or a liquid product. In certain warmer areas of the country, there is an accelerating the use of salt as a method of sanitization.
