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Broken salsa jar closes Mass public pool
News
July 31, 2024
Broken salsa jar closes Mass public pool

A Massachusetts public swimming pool paid $20,000 to clean up the glass after a salsa jar smashed into the water.

A visitor at the Rosemary Recreation Complex pool in Needham, Massachusetts, dropped a salsa jar at the side of the pool, which shattered, sending glass shards into the pool itself.

The pool was closed beginning July 14, when the incident occurred. The pool was drained, cleaned by power washing, vacuumed with a wet/dry vac, refilled, chemically rebalanced, and retested for bacteria.

“All these steps take some time,” Park and Recreation Director Stacey Mulroy posted on Facebook. “We are unsure of the exact number of days it will take us to reopen the pool.”

In fact, the entire process took four days and cost $20,000 in staff labor, overtime, water, and pool chemicals.

Mulroy said that clear glass shards can float undetected in the water, posing a risk to swimmers and necessitating the heavy-duty cleanup.

“They can float into somebody’s eye or somebody’s mouth or into their lungs if they ingest shards of glass,” Mulroy said. “That is a more concerning situation, which is why we go through this very specific procedure.”

The incident closed the lap pool just as temperatures in Massachusetts soared.

“The entire community suffers both the loss of our pool and in the purse all because one person decided to bring a jar of salsa to the pool,” State Senator Becca Rausch said. “What a disappointment.”

The pool has numerous signs posted reminding patrons absolutely “NO GLASS of any kind” is allowed in or around the pool area.

Nonetheless, just three days after the pool reopened following the cleanup, employees found a glass lemonade bottle left on the cement decking near the pool.

In a social media post, the Needham Parks and Rec scolded patrons: “If this bottle had shattered on the cement decking, we would have been back to emptying the pool.”

Rosemary Recreation Complex Pool, Needham, MA

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