A dangerous equipment failure caused chemicals to be injected into the Temescal Pool last Thursday morning as more than 20 people were using the facility, sources have told The Oaklandside.
The chemicals caused several swimmers to experience severe coughing with breathing difficulty, according to one person, Davida Flattery, who was in the pool at the time.
Flattery and two others who have knowledge of the incident told The Oaklandside that the swimmers rushed to help each other get out of the water. Several swimmers experienced respiratory distress and were transported to hospitals. A few of the people who swam directly through the chemical plumes appeared to be severely impacted. Some people consulted with the state’s poison control hotline.
Temescal Aquatic Masters, a swim team whose members were in the pool that day, later identified the chemicals as muriatic acid, which is used to lower pH, and chlorine, which is used to kill bacteria.
The swim team’s president, Tom Horton, and vice president, Libby Nachman, sent an email last Thursday alerting its members to the incident. According to the email, which was shared with The Oaklandside, the chemical release was caused when city staff arrived at 6 a.m. to service the pool. They noticed the pool’s water management system had been shut off, possibly due to a power outage the day before. “City staff turned the machinery back on, and that is when a rush of chemicals (chlorine and muriatic acid) was released into the pool,” Horton and Nachman wrote.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that a venue should be closed to swimmers during chlorine application.
The Oaklandside sent these chemical names to the city’s parks department and public works department seeking confirmation, but neither responded to that question.
In an unsigned public email sent to pool users from Oakland’s aquatics and swimming program on Monday, the city only said that the Temescal Pool “is closed until further notice due to the continued opening and closing of programming related to ongoing water quality concerns,” and that “we believe it is best to keep Temescal closed until Oakland Public Works is able to fully address the facility issues contributing to the inconsistent water quality conditions.”
The email made no mention of last week’s chemical injuries.
Asked about the incident on Monday, the city administrator’s office issued the following statement:
“Swimmers are a valued part of the Oakland Parks, Recreation and Youth Development community and the City takes their health and safety seriously,” the email said. “The City is investigating the incident at Temescal Pool to understand what exactly occurred, to review our policies and training, and to make sure an incident like this never happens again. In the meantime, staff are attempting to contact the individuals who were injured to make sure we are offering whatever support we can.”
The city has not responded to questions about how many people were injured nor has it confirmed Temescal Aquatic Masters’ description of how the chemical release happened.
‘I started to feel like I couldn’t breathe’
Temescal Pool was closed and quiet on Monday when The Oaklandside stopped by. Staff at the pool acknowledged the chemical incident on Thursday. Credit: Darwin BondGraham/The Oaklandside
The people injured on Thursday were all members of the Temescal Aquatic Masters swim team. The club offers coached workout sessions at the pool early on weekday mornings.
Two members of the team told The Oaklandside about the incident.
Flattery was swimming in a lane near the edge of the pool when she noticed yellow-tinged bubbles fizzing up from the center of the pool. She didn’t think much of it at first, but when she came up for breath, she heard another swimmer struggling with what sounded like a distressed cough. “I thought she was having an asthma attack,” said Flattery, who works as a physician.
As Flattery turned toward the woman to help, she started to hear other swimmers also start to cough deeply. “It became clear we were being exposed to something,” she said. “It was in my nose, and I started to feel like I couldn’t take in breath. I could taste it.”
The swimmers rushed out of the pool. Some went into the locker room to try to wash the chemical off their bodies, but they still had trouble breathing, Flattery said, and the room started smelling of chemicals, so they went out front onto the sidewalk on 45th Street.
Flattery and the other sources told The Oaklandside that 911 was called and five people ended up going to the hospital.
Muriatic acid, also known as hydrochloric acid can be corrosive to the skin, eyes, nose, respiratory tract, and other bodily tissue, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Inhalation can cause pulmonary edema, where fluids build up in the lungs, making it difficult to get oxygen. It can cause severe injuries to the mouth, throat, and stomach if ingested.
Flattery said the Temescal Aquatic Masters swim team leadership “has been compassionate and professional” about checking in with all the swimmers and keeping them updated on what’s known about the incident.
Temescal Aquatic Masters leadership did not respond to an interview request for this story. The groups email to its members last week said that two people had to be transported to the hospital by ambulance. Two others were taken to hospitals in cars.
Oakland has cut the budget of its aquatics program in recent years. The city’s current budget pays for one full-time pool technician and half of a part-time technician. That’s down from two full-time technicians and one part-timer.
Swimmers and others we spoke to for this story told us the city’s pools have frequently been closed over the past year due to water quality issues.
The city’s email from Monday noted that the DeFremery Pool is also closed because of poor water quality.
Correction: Muriatic acid is another name for hydrochloric acid.
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