Accidents happen and this one forced the city to shut down the park for the day, as it cleaned the pool area and put in new chemicals.

“I think we were open for about three hours when it happened,” said Reigle, who is certified in pool operations and cleaning. “For things like solid wastes, the treatment is a little different. It took about eight hours to clean it and get everything back to safe levels.

“It probably cost thousands of dollars,” said Reigle, about the money the park lost in admission and concessions.

“I guess that’s why it’s important to remind parents not to bring sick kids outdoors and to our water parks,” said Kevin Beavers, the city’s parks and facility maintenance superintendent.

Most pool-associated illnesses are associated with parasites and bacteria found in feces. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during the past two decades the country has seen an increase in the number of recreational water illness outbreaks associated with swimming pools, water parks, hot tubs, lakes, rivers and oceans.

Not using public pools when you are ill is important - there are some germs, such as crypto, which causes diarrhea in people, that can survive as long as 10 days in chlorinated water.

“We do everything we can to make sure our pools are safe,” Beavers said. “In that instance, it’s just one of those things you have no control over.”

To treat the pool that day, the city had to put extra chlorine in the pool and wait for the waste to exit the pool, into the sewage systems. “The bacteria was killed by the chemicals we used, and the waste was collected by the pool’s system, which filtered it out,” Reigle said.

Cleaning up accidents is just one of Reigle’s duties, along with other workers from the city, who also clean up all the pools, hot tubs and splash pads.

Everyday at 7 a.m., Reigle and his co-workers check computer information detailing which of the city’s pools are in the most need of chemical balancing. The city has digital control and monitoring systems at their pools that show chemical levels.

“We go to every pool in the morning and check out their pH balance and chlorine levels,” he said. “But we try to locate the ones that may need the most work first.”

The city has three public pools, including Walker Pool, Summit Pool and Clark Pool, along with the water park. Workers are also responsible for treating the city’s hot tubs at the Summit Family Fitness Center, and its three splash pads in its parks.

“It’s a common practice at every pool before they’re opened,” Beavers said. “Everything is built into the workers’ schedules. We can also call them out when a chemical may be swaying one way or another depending upon their readings.

“Things aren’t like they were 10 or 15 years ago,” he said. “There’s a lot more technology available now that helps us out.”

Residents worried about going to a dirty public pool don’t have to worry about it in Temple, Beavers said.

“Typically, it’s been my experience that municipalities and places that own pools try to put the people first, and make sure they’re safe. We do that here,” he said.

At the Lions Water Park, the pool has a water turnover rate of two hours, which means the water in the pool goes through a filtration and pumping system several times during the day. The turnover rate is far faster than the state’s minimum six-hour mandate.

The pool is also vacuumed daily, and Beavers said the city power-washes the deck-area when needed.

“Most of the people working at the (city) pools have communicated to me that the cleaning aspects are just second nature to them - it’s done everyday - we want to ensure we’re being on the safe side,” he said.

Reigle said the chemical levels at splash pads are higher because the water systems are smaller. He said they are tested and cleaned daily. He also said the city’s hot tubs are drained weekly, and chemically treated and tested daily.

Temple residents who’ve visited the pools and splash pads said they’ve never had any issues.

“A lot of people think public pools are gross, but around here they’re pretty nice,” said Vanessa Lopez, who said she’s taken her kids to the pools. “They all seem pretty clean to me. I mean you can’t really tell unless you see things floating around, but it’s good to know they clean them.”

Her daughter, Laura, 7, said she enjoyed going to the pools, saying they were “clean and fun.”

Beavers said, “I can’t really think of anyone coming forward to say that they’ve gotten sick because of our pools.”