SHAWNEE, Kan. — Johnson County is making a splash with pool inspections.
At this time last year, the county was overwhelmed by the number of pools they had to inspect.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, 635 pools throughout the county have to be inspected at least once.
Before diving in, there are several things that have to be checked off the inspection list. Everything from the water quality of the pool, safety of the pool deck area and signage all have pass the test.
Steve Vogelsang is one of Johnson County's full-time inspectors. Everyday, he inspects a handful of pools.
He said the main reason a pool might receive a temporary closure is due to the water quality being off.
“That’s usually the most common reason we will shut down a pool temporarily and why we test the water when we first arrive,” Vogelsang said.
Chlorine and pH levels need to be within a certain range and can be adjusted in a short period of time.
“We’ll wait for them to make the adjustment, they’ll retest it and they’ll reopen the pool so that really nobody’s affected by the closure,” Vogelsang said.
City pools rarely give Vogelsang any trouble. He said it’s the neighborhood pools that need the most attention.
“It really varies on the pool operator that’s taking care of the pool,” he said.
If there are problems during the inspection, Vogelsang said the pools get two to three weeks to fix them. If they don’t, the pool could be faced with a fine.
“If a pool does not fix a problem, fix a violation within a reasonable amount of time, we can write a ticket from anywhere between $100 to $500,” he said.
The fine would increase for every day the problem goes unfixed.
Vogelsang said he hasn’t run into this issue in years.
“With the pool operators we have here in Johnson County, we haven’t written a ticket in five years,” he said.
In Johnson County, at least one routine inspection is done every year.
Vogelsang said all 635 pool inspections should be complete by mid-August.
