You can't just dump pool water on your plants. You have to let the pH come down to between 7-8 and the chlorine has to come down to about 1ppm. Then you have to think about how much water you use on your landscape a day. You probably have 10-20,000 gallons of water in that pool. That would take me a long time to get rid of on my landscape without drowning the plants. Average Californian water usage for the entire residence is about 9k gallons/mo, half of which is for landscape. That means it could easily take 2-4 months to use all the water in the pool. During which time you have an awful mosquito breeding grounds.

This post was edited by nil13 on Fri, May 2, 14 at 22:16

nil13's response sounds very authoritative and well thought out, so it pains me to tell you what I would do. Since you've applied your pool water to plants in the past, I think you can do the same now. I would broadcast the water across as wide an area as possible, rather than flood a given area.

I also think it would take too much time to use all that water on your plants... and end up with all of the woes already mentioned. I don't know where you live, but here you have to have a permit to dump a large amount of water; it's free, but they've been warned to expect it.

It sounds as if you want to remove your pool entirely or are you intending to fill it with soil? Once again, if you remove an in-ground pool or hot tub here you need permits to do so.

You might want to check on the need for permits.

don't see why you couldn't use mosquito dunks in the old low pool water as you are using it up. min

By saying "we are filling the pool", I assume you mean you are draining it so that you can remove the pool.

You can use pool water in small quantities according to the sensitivity of your plants. You could let the chlorine level drop way down in the winter without growing algae and mosquitos. In SoCal after this last week, letting it drop low enough to be able to water plants will start the algae growing. Its going to be a balancing act to let the chlorine drop low enough to use on plants without turning into an ugly mess. Last month, it would have been easy.

You could add dechlorinator if you were going to empty it all at once. Say drop the dechlor in at sunset and empty it starting the next morning. Powder form Chlor-Am-X is one dechlorinator available. There are other brands.

We have a Meyco Mesh cover and I would like to just leave the cover on and not open the pool for use this summer. Questions:
With this type of cover will it still breed insects? Should I occasionally need to add some chemicals? What are the concerns/consciences of not opening for one season? If I decide to fill it in does the property gain or lose value (currently three entertainment spaces and excellent landscaping)? Anything else to consider? Thanks for any help I can get:)

Mesh will allow mosquitoes in to breed, and you will get algae growth without maintenance of the water. Talk to your local pool supply business as to what best to do.

Talk to local realtors as to the value or non-value of a pool. Pools are very, very local as to value and an experienced agent active in your neighborhood will know best.

I am wondering about the pros abd cons of doing the same. How did you decide to fill it in?

I emptied out the pool gradually on the front lawn with no ill effects to the grass. When water accumulates because of rain, the L.A. County (think this who it is) comes once a month and sprays the water to kill mosquito larvae. If you owe a house, they already take out a fee in your house taxes for the abatement program. He said the spray was safe (right). The original plan was to fill in the pool, but the agent said that permits are required and if you do it on your own w/o permits and get caught, it will cost lots of $ and a long time to fix. I also used mosquito dunks and mosquito fish in the pool, but mostly immediately empty it out after rain because I don't want them spraying anything. Good luck.