Backwashing your Swimming Pool.
- City of Tempe has recently changed their rules regarding the disposal of Backwash pool water. There is now ONLY ONE method allowed. “Maintenance backwash water can only be discharged to the owner’s property.” This means that Sierra Tempe Residents are no longer allowed to drain any pool backwash water into the street or into/onto any neighboring property, including common areas.
Draining your Swimming Pool
If you intend to completely drain your pool and it contains less than 35,000 gallons, City of Tempe Rules REQUIRE that you allow a minimum of three days to pass from the last time chlorine was added to the pool. The water is to be chemically tested to be free of high levels of chemicals (acid, chlorine, etc.). Tempe does not require any additional permits if you adhere to the following rules.
City of Tempe’s specified conditions are as follows:
- The order of preference for the discharge is as follows:
- It is highly recommended that all discharge water be kept on your property and used for landscaping irrigation. This may require discharging intermittently for several days if you have limited landscape area to prevent runoff onto the right-of-way or onto a neighbor’s property.
- Discharge of drainage from pools to the residential clean-out is allowed if the flow is constantly monitored and no chlorine has been added to the pool for at least three (3) days before discharge, and the owner is liable for any sewer backup or damage to their private system as a result of discharging pool water to the sewer clean-out on their property.
- Pool drainage water may be discharged to the right-of-way or street (not including alleys) when correctly de-chlorinated and pollutant free, discharged using a pump sized no more that 1.5 horsepower and drainage is monitored to ensure it does not create flooding or damage, create a traffic hazard or otherwise constitute a nuisance under ยง21-3(b)(18) of the City of Tempe Code.
NOTE: Community Rules PROHIBIT draining ANY pool water into the street that drains into landscaped common area or directly into the common area. DO NOT throw the drain hose over the fence into the common area.