Higher prices are all around us this winter. Local home price increases are setting records. Gasoline is over $4.00 a gallon in some areas. No one would blame us for looking forward to Spring and relief from this madness.
Last summer pool owners were faced with costly consequences from a series of unfortunate events in 2020. When Hurricane Laura made landfall in Louisiana that August, one of the largest chemical plants in the country was flooded by the storm. As flood waters filled the factory, chlorine leached from storage facility, overheated and caught fire. The fire left the plant without a roof and no means of producing chlorine. Pool chemical suppliers were forced to ration out the small quantities that remained to their customers.
The aftermath
After a 170 million dollar repair, the Louisiana plant is back online. The problem in 2022 is skyrocketing raw material prices. Pool owners will be able to chlorinate their pools but it will cost more. A lot more. A reddit user captured the price increases in pictures. In November a tub of chlorine tablets were prices at 129.99. Two months later at the same Costco store the price jumped to $189.99. That is a 46% increase.
With price increases like this, maybe pool owners will try to charge admission?
