By Seth Mitchell, The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — As summer starts to creep up, many local swimming pools are opening to the public once again.
The favorite swimming areas of many local residents were kept closed in 2020 due to COVID-19 quarantine regulations, forcing people to suffer the summer heat without a way to cool down. This year, as vaccines are widely available and pandemic restrictions ease, the general trend for local facilities indicates a return to normalcy.
Several pools and related facilities are scheduled to reopen to the public around Memorial Day weekend. In particular, Waves of Fun and the Hurricane Sprayground, both in Hurricane, West Virginia, are opening on Memorial Day; Stowers Branch Swimming Beach near Lavalette will open May 28; and Dreamland Pool in Kenova and the YMCA Kennedy Center in Huntington will open May 29.
A concern for pool-goers that emerged earlier this month is a shortage of commercially available chlorine. This shortage has been reported to be caused by a combination of a surge of individuals buying personal swimming pools during the COVID-19 pandemic and due to a chlorine plant located at Lake Charles, Louisiana, burning down in August 2020. The plant supplied the bulk of chlorine tablet production in the United States…
