EPA rule makes change likely at Saratoga pool

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The crown jewel of Saratoga Springs — a hot mineral-water pool and spa — faces drastic changes after a recent discovery that the pool contains nearly four times the accepted level of arsenic for drinking water.

At 38 parts of arsenic per billion units of water, the pool used to be within acceptable levels determined by the Environmental Protection Agency. Recent changes to EPA guidelines, however, lowered the accepted rate from 50 parts per billion to 10.

Officials say the arsenic in the Saratoga Springs pool is likely a natural component of the mineral water from the hot springs, not a result of chemical-laced runoff.

"It's nothing life-threatening — just a pool undergoing changes that's caught between new systems and old systems," said Ron Tobler, an environmental health program manager for the Utah County Department of Health.

The EPA adopted the change in January 2001; it was to take effect February 2002. Cities were given until January of this year to come into compliance with the new levels.

However, the Saratoga Springs housing association, which owns and oversees the pool, which sits at the edge of Utah Lake, didn't discover it exceeded the limit until Friday when it presented plans to the health department to change the pool water from mineral to fresh water.

According to Jim Parker, general manager of the Saratoga Springs owner's association, the development's governing board, which represents a chunk of the 6,300-resident city, has looked at ways to cut costs of the pool for two years.

As it is, the pool runs through about $1,000 in chlorine every month in addition to regular maintenance costs necessitated by excessive mineral build-up.

"Mineral water destroys the controls — it destroys metal and causes it to fail," Parker said. "The float valves that keep the water in the right place haven't worked for years."

The pump room for the pool is filled with leaky, rusty pipes and controls that no longer work properly, Parker said. And that's a problem that could be remedied by replacing the mineral water from a tapped hot spring with water from city lines.

The pool would then be heated by a process that takes the natural heat from the hot spring and transfers it to fresh water. Parker said the switch would alleviate the need for so much chlorine as well as reduce the amount of upkeep the pool requires, reducing the overall cost of the pool.