Pools and Hot Tubs

Water saving tips

Do you know the times you can fill and top up your pool and hot tub? The Water Conservation By-law 07-069 provides every property with a time for outdoor watering to help reduce demands on our water supply and distribution system. Find your outdoor watering times.

Reduce evaporation

Evaporation is a leading cause of water loss. Water loss from evaporation can result from different factors including temperature, humidity, and wind speed.

What you can do:

Cover your pool when not in use
Lower the temperature if heating your pool
Reduce running time of water falls and other water features
When adding water, only fill to halfway up the skimmer

Maintain good water quality

Filter backwashing and controlling total dissolved solids (TDS) can contribute to significant water loss. Keeping a pool free of debris and microbes can reduce corrosion, decrease the risk of developing leaks, and increase the longevity of your pool water.

What you can do:

Regularly clean pool liner if you have one
Regularly test water quality
Use a high-performance filter to remove debris, and clean and replace it as soon as needed
Treat water with ozone, ultraviolet light, copper-silver ionizers, reverse osmosis, or consider nanofiltration

Check for leaks

Your pool can lose water from a silent leak. Look for leaks in areas such as pool liner, pump seal, pool piping, pool-to-pipe connection, pool edges, and pipe joints.

How to recognize a leak:

Water level goes down by at least 5 cm a week
Wet spots appear around the pool
Air bubbles in the water return pipeline or in the pump strainer

What you can do:

Perform regular inspections and fix leaks as they occur
Check all connections when opening the pool as seals can loosen over the winter
Winterize your pool
- Clean the pool water and all parts of the pool
- Balance out pool chemicals, and add winterization chemicals such as shock and algaecide to kill bacteria and algae
- Drain water from equipment such as filters, pumps, heaters, and piping

Protecting our environment

You are responsible for the proper discharge of water from your pool or hot tub. This water contains chemicals such as chlorine, bromine, salt and algaecides. These chemicals can be harmful to the natural environment and our drinking water supply.

Discharging these chemicals to storm sewers or a waterway is considered an environmental spill and those responsible can be held accountable.

Discharging options: chlorinated water, including backwash

Before discharging, confirm the water is free of debris and test for chlorine. If chlorine is present, you must first dechlorinate the water using dichlorination tablets.

Preferred option: discharge onto a permeable surface. Discharge to a location on your property such as your lawn. Do not impact neighbouring properties.
Alternative option 1: discharge to the storm sewer. Before discharging to the storm sewer, you must first confirm no chlorine, or other chemicals are present. Do not discharge on a rainy day to reduce strain on the storm sewer system. Do not flood roadways, sidewalks, or neighbouring properties.
Alternative option 2: if possible, discharge to the sanitary sewer by running the hose to a suitable drain inside your home.

Discharging options: salt water, including backwash

Do not discharge salt water to the storm sewer.

Preferred option: hire a Ministry of the Environment, Conservation & Parks (MECP) waste hauler.
Alternative option: if possible, discharge to the sanitary sewer by running a hose to a suitable drain inside your home.

Discharging options: rain or snow melt from pool covers

Preferred option: discharge onto permeable surface on your property. Do not impact neighbouring properties.
Alternative option: discharge to the storm sewer. Ensure water is free of debris. Do not discharge on a rainy day to avoid overwhelming the storm sewer system. Do not flood roadways, sidewalks, or neighbouring properties.