Arlington closes public splash pads, pools after possible brain-eating amoeba detected
ARLINGTON (CBSNewsTexas.com) - The City of Arlington closed all of its public splash pads and pools after a water sample collected from the California Lane Park splash pad detected the possible presence of a rare brain-eating amoeba.
There are no reports of anyone getting sick or hospitalized linked to the possible finding. Also, Arlington's drinking water supply is not affected, and the water quality continues to meet all regulatory safety guidelines set by state and federal authorities.
"The City of Arlington is committed to the highest standards of safety and transparency and will keep the community updated regarding the pending test results," said Parks and Recreation Director James Orloski. "Our industry-leading protocols and the advanced technology we have in place give us confidence in the chemical monitoring and treatment at our aquatics facilities."
The free-living amoeba, called Naegleria fowleri lives in warm, fresh water such as rivers, lakes and hot springs and in the soil. It can live in swimming pools or water parks that aren't properly maintained and chlorinated, as well as in tap water, industrial waters and water heaters.
It does not live in the ocean.
Naegleria fowleri infects a person through their nose. Most cases are thought to happen when a person swims or submerges their head under the water.
Arlington is one of a handful of cities that partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a study about splash pad safety. In July and once in August, the City collected water samples from the California Lane Park splash pad and sent them to an EPA laboratory for testing.
On Tuesday, Aug. 29, the EPA notified Arlington that a sample collected Aug. 17 from the splash pad "was presumed positive" for the presence of Naegleria fowleri amoeba based on laboratory observations.
The EPA is currently conducting testing to confirm those preliminary observations. But the lab is in Gainesville, Florida, and the timing of PCR confirmation may be impacted by Hurricane Idalia.
The risk of Naegleria fowleri infection is extremely low, with only 29 reported infections in the United States between 2013 and 2022, according to the CDC. But presence of the amoeba can result in a rare and fatal infection in humans.
Bakari Williams, 3, died in 2021 after contracting a deadly amoeba infection after visiting Arlington's Don Misenhimer splash pad.
An attorney representing The Williams family said they're monitoring the new developments.
"I think first and foremost getting the press release from the City of Arlington, there's disappointment," said Stephen Stewart, the Williams' family attorney. "That's the best word I have to describe it."
In 2022, Arlington developed the Bakari Williams Protocol, which puts additional checks and balances in place for aquatics facility maintenance, and also made recommended upgrades to the aquatics facilities' chemical testing, controllers, and secondary sanitation systems to ensure facilities are safe for public use.
"What we hope is that the City of Arlington is not only complying," Stewart said, "but that the City of Arlington is fully complying with the Bakari Williams protocol and doing everything that they need to do."
After the EPA's notification on Tuesday, Arlington reviewed its inspection records and confirmed that water chlorination levels at the California Lane Park splash pad were continuously within established ranges throughout the summer, as measured by the automated water chemistry controllers. Chlorination levels at the splash pad have averaged 3.5 parts per million, which is more than three times the CDC recommended levels, during operating hours.
Additionally, workers manually tested water quality every 3 to 4 hours, according to a release, while the splash pad was in operation, with the average of four times a day.
Click here to view pool and splash pad chemical logs for this summer, the Bakari Williams Protocol and the City's standard operating procedures for pool chemical monitoring.
More About the City of Arlington's Bakari Williams Protocol
In 2022, Arlington developed new protocols for aquatics facility maintenance and completed nearly $650,000 in improvements to pools and its four splash pads. Improvements included recommended mechanical upgrades to chemical testing, controllers, and secondary sanitation systems at Arlington aquatics facilities. These rigorous protocols exceed federal, state, and industry minimum standards and include:
- Automated water chemistry controllers with advanced sensors and features designed to produce safe and clean water and automatically shut off any splash pads where water readings are not in the acceptable ranges.
- Manual water quality testing by staff three times daily, exceeding the state requirement of one test per day.
- Chlorine minimum levels between 2.5 ppm and five ppm for all splash pads, exceeding the state minimum requirement of 1 ppm.
- Additional staff trained as Certified Pool Operators.
- Addition of QR codes on signs at all aquatics facilities, allowing visitors to access up-to-date water quality information via smartphone devices.
Other improvements:
- A departmental reorganization placed aquatic technicians under the operations division, creating a team of other skilled trades groups to work together to ensure the highest quality of work.
- New digital water quality testing capabilities that reduce human error by eliminating visual inaccuracies in the testing process.
- Upgrades to the secondary sanitation process, including a state-of-the-art ultraviolet (UV) system at splash pads.
- Software that replaces the City's handwritten record process by remotely providing real-time water quality data and inspection records to aquatics employees through an app.