St. Johns County

‘We’re afraid to use it’: Neighbors in St. Johns County say pool got them sick

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — If you plan to take your kids to the pool this summer you may want to check with the health department first.

Neighbors in one St. Johns County community say their pool got them sick.

STORY: Florida’s gator hunt lottery draws record applicants

Everyone loves a dip in the pool but the pool in the Grand Creek neighborhood has turned out to be the source of several issues.

“We went the first weekend it was opened up so that was about three months ago,” one neighbor said.

The Grand Creek neighborhood has recently joined a growing section of the county with homes, families and a brand new pool.

“We’re afraid to use it until something is changed,” a resident said.

But the community pool is not bringing happy memories to the families in the neighborhood. Action News Jax spoke to one resident whose family got sick after swimming in the pool- twice!

“What we thought our kids are in daycare they may be just brought home a daycare bug but after the second time we realized we could pinpoint the pool,” they said.

And then figured out they were not alone.

STORY: Florida lawmakers to meet next week for session on property insurance

“We had a neighbor that posted, ‘any family’s been to the pool that experienced the stomach bug? Immediately after?’ And everybody, all the comments... (said) yes,” the resident said.

Multiple parents posted on social media that they got sick after swimming. Those parents decided to do something.

They called the health department and found out the pool at Grand Creek failed two separate inspections. Their violations included a lack of proper equipment, a PH outside of a healthy range, and other chemical issues.

Now, residents have one message for anyone using a public pool: “check the pool inspection reports.”

Checking is easy, just look up “pool inspections” on the Florida Department of Health website.

One resident said, “coming into a new neighborhood, I never thought to check the pool inspection reports before going to a public pool but that is super important because when I did check, what I found was very disturbing.”