As if the past two(ish) years haven’t been hard enough on the pool industry, we’re now facing a chlorine shortage. Continue reading to discover how this could affect your swimming plans for summer 2022.

The Recap: March 2020 – Present

In March of 2020, the pandemic began. We know no one needs a recap, but here’s what it looked like from a pool maintenance perspective: With so many people spending more time than ever in their house, people saw this as an opportunity to finally do those home renos they’d always talked about. And what was big on the list? Pool updates and installations. Thus, the swimming pool industry exploded and created a huge demand for parts, products, and cleaning chemicals.

As an outdoor activity, swimming became a safe way to spend time in nature and take advantage of the beauty found within your own backyard. And for most of Texas, we get swimming-approved weather for the majority of the year, but any chance of a warm spring was stopped in its tracks with the once-in-a-century freeze we experienced earlier this February. This icy catastrophe left almost all pool owners with busted pipes and costly repairs. Remember the huge demand for pool parts in March of 2020? Supply had still not been able to meet expectations, but thankfully we’ve built strong relationships with our vendors and were able to source replacement parts for our clients.

Just as the pool industry had begun its rebound from the freeze, there’s news that one of the country’s largest chlorine tablet manufacturers burned down in August. This plant had accounted for nearly two-thirds of the country’s supply of chlorine, and experts believe this shortage could continue into May of 2022. Prices have tripled and restricted order limits have been enacted, but we’ve kept a large enough supply to continue treating our loyal pool owners.

We’ll All Float On

It truly was the perfect storm: First the pandemic, then the freeze, then the plant fire. Each event added fuel to the (ahem!) supply-and-demand fire, making it harder and harder for us to keep servicing your pools. We’re incredibly lucky that our vendors and customers have been so responsive and patient during this time, but good news: BioLab, the chlorine manufacturer, plans to begin operations again by March of 2022. If the past two years have taught us anything, it’s that Kelly’s Pools is resilient, agile, and dedicated to our customers–and nothing will change that.