Thread by @opinion

💦 Planning to float around in your pool this summer? A shortage of chlorine tablets threatens to make that difficult trib.al/UjeOUhg

The chlorine squeeze is especially acute because Americans are more pool-happy than ever:

➡️ Demand for pool upgrades and new construction skyrocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic
➡️ Pool owners who didn’t do any extra work started using their pools more trib.al/UjeOUhg

The chlorine market likely would have been able to keep up were it not for a fire at a BioLab chemical plant last year.

The damage took out a facility responsible for a significant portion of the popular chlorine tablets produced for the U.S. market trib.al/UjeOUhg

About two-thirds of the 5.2 million residential in-ground pools in the U.S. use traditional chlorine systems. The chlorine shortage will affect the vast majority of pool owners.

But few consumers seem aware of the issue trib.al/UjeOUhg

The crunch in chlorine tablets is a microcosm of the broader vulnerabilities in supply chains. Almost any disruption that could happen has happened in the last year and a half:

🌍A global pandemic
📊Volatile swings in demand
👩🏾‍🏭Shortages of workers
trib.al/UjeOUhg

Thankfully, there are alternatives to chlorine tablets:

💧Granulated or liquid forms of chlorine
💧Equipment that generates chlorine from salt via electrolysis
💧Ultraviolet light or ozone-based sanitizing technology
trib.al/UjeOUhg

🧂 Salt systems can corrode stones without proper setup, and a salt-chlorine generator entails more upfront expenses compared to chlorine tablets.

Convincing consumers to make the initial investment may depend on how long chlorine supplies remain tight trib.al/UjeOUhg

The BioLab plant is expected to come back online by the spring of 2022.

But the supply-demand equation may remain lopsided through next summer and that prices will stay elevated trib.al/UjeOUhg