Parents blame pool for swimmers' ills

Correction: Dectron Internationale, of Montreal, made the ventilation system for the North Allegheny Senior High School swimming pool, and USFilter Corp., of Marshall, made the water-treatment system. USFilter's role was described incorrectly on Friday.

Nineteen North Allegheny high school swimmers are using asthma medication because of poor ventilation in the school's indoor pool, parents say.

Swim team members also have developed rashes, pneumonia and nausea, while school officials have failed to fix the problem despite repeated pleas from parents, coaches and students, swim team booster club President Carole Shepard said Thursday.

"My son came out of the hospital (this week) because he had a collapsed lung," Shepard, 49, of McCandless, said. "This is after he went through a steroid inhaler. None of these kids had issues before."

More than 50 parents and swimmers turned out at a school board meeting Wednesday to protest about the pool problems. The swim team has 43 members.

The district installed a $24,000 water treatment and ventilation system in 2000 after swimmers experienced similar problems, but parents say the troubles resurfaced in 2001. District spokeswoman Joy Ed said in a statement that officials weren't aware of the new problems until last fall.

"Since that time, the district has brought several specialists to review the (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) and pool water treatment systems operations. Testing has occurred, and various adjustments have been made. At this time, our efforts to identify the exact cause of the issues identified and possible solutions are ongoing," the statement said.

Shepard said parents and school Athletic Director Bob Bozzuto and swim coach Corky Semler have repeatedly informed school administrators about the problem.

"All we're asking for is a safe environment. (Superintendent Patricia) Green claims there's a lack of awareness. That's not true," Shepard said. "It's a lack of responsiveness."

The ventilation system was manufactured by Dectron Internationale, of Montreal. Company spokeswoman Karole Colangelo said Dectron officials were not aware of problems at North Allegheny until contacted by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and will work with the district to fix them.

The high school pool on Nov. 10 failed an Allegheny County Health Department inspection. Chlorine levels were cited as too low at 0.6 parts per million. The county requires that pools maintain a chlorine level 1 to 6 parts per million. The pool passed a re-inspection Dec. 16 with chlorine levels of 1.2 parts per million.

Health inspectors had not been notified of complaints about the ventilation system and therefore, they did not test it, Health Department spokesman Guillermo Cole said.

Poor ventilation can lead to increased chlorine gas on the water's surface, Semler said. That, in turn, can cause breathing problems such as asthma, said Dr. Jay Kolls, chief of pediatric pulmonary care at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in Oakland.

"For half of the swimmers to have asthma problems, that's very high," Kolls said.

Freshman swimmer Kara Stone, 14, said she can't sleep through the night without waking up with shortness of breath. She developed breathing problems in November and a skin rash shortly after she started swimming in the pool in September.

"I never had any breathing problems my whole life until I started swimming consistently at NASH (North Allegheny Senior High) pool," Stone said. "Now I'm on two inhalers. I can't come up the steps without taking a deep breath. And it's all completely unnecessary."

Officials thought the problem was fixed when the new system was installed, school board President Maureen Grosheider said. The district has installed extra fans in the pool since last fall, she said.

"We want to understand what the problem is and then look at a new system," Grosheider said. "We want to make sure what we do now actually solves the problem."

Board member Jim Beierle said the troubles have existed for too long.

"It appears the staff has studied this long enough," he said. "Why is there no solution?"