Summer attacks pool chemistry from three directions
High water temperature accelerates algae growth and chlorine consumption. Strong ultraviolet light destroys free chlorine within hours unless stabiliser levels are correct. Evaporation concentrates dissolved solids while top-up water dilutes the balance you just corrected. All three happen at once, which is why a pool that held steady in February needs materially more attention in July.
More chlorine is usually the wrong first answer
When water turns green, the instinct is to add sanitiser. Often the sanitiser is being added and destroyed just as quickly, because the stabiliser level is too low to protect it from sunlight — or too high, which locks the chlorine into an ineffective state. Testing tells you which, and the two situations require opposite responses. Dosing blindly wastes chemicals and can make the water harder to bring back.
Filtration run-time is the usual culprit
A pool needs to turn its full volume over completely, and in summer that generally means running the circulation system substantially longer than in winter. Many villa pools run on a timer set once, years ago, and never revisited. If the water clouds within a day or two of being cleared, extend filtration hours before adding anything else — the chemistry cannot hold in water that is not moving through the filter often enough.
The filter itself has a service life
Sand degrades, cartridges collapse, and a filter that is backwashed but never re-mediated eventually stops filtering to the fineness it was designed for. If pressure readings sit permanently high, or clarity never fully returns after a clean, the medium is usually the problem rather than the chemistry.
What consistent maintenance actually prevents
A green pool is not just unpleasant — recovery costs chemicals, filter run-time, and sometimes a partial drain. Weekly testing and adjustment, filter servicing and correct run-time keep the pool in range continuously and cost significantly less over a summer than two or three recovery treatments.
Written by the technical team at Ebhar Desert Maintenance & General Contracting, Abu Dhabi.
