The City of Arlington shut down all its public pools and splash pads on Wednesday due to the potential presence of brain-eating amoeba at one location. The closures are in effect until further notice.
According to an announcement from the municipal authorities, this decision was taken after federal testing of a water sample from the California Lane Park splash pad indicated “the possible presence” of Naegleria fowleri.
The City of Arlington has voluntarily agreed to be part of a study conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigating splash pad safety.
While preliminary tests of the samples taken at California Lane Park on August 17 indicate a possible positive, they have been sent to an EPA-certified lab in Gainesville, Florida, for further examination.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida on Wednesday morning. As a result of the severe weather and flooding, the results might be delayed.
Naegleria fowleri thrives in warm freshwater environments, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The organism enters the human body through the nasal cavity, not through oral ingestion.
From there, it navigates to the brain and initiates an almost universally fatal infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which decimates brain tissue.
Symptoms, including nausea, severe headaches, fever, and neurological issues like seizures and hallucinations, appear 1 to 12 days post-exposure. The disease progresses rapidly, leading to death 1 to 18 days after the onset of symptoms.
According to CDC records, the infection is highly uncommon, with only 157 reported cases between 1962 and 2022, of which only four survived.
On August 30, officials in Austin reported that a swimmer had died after contracting PAM following a swim in Lake Lyndon B. Johnson, according to CBS News. The victim’s identity was not disclosed, and specimens have been sent to the CDC for further review.
Recreational pools or splash pads that haven’t been treated with enough chlorine can potentially be contaminated with such amoeba.
In 2021, the death of 3-year-old Bakari Williams was linked to having contracted PAM after visiting a splash pad at Arlington’s Don Misenhimer Park. The boy’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Arlington, which was later settled.
As part of that settlement, Arlington enacted the Bakari Williams Protocol to ensure the safety of aquatic recreational spaces.
This entails testing the water at facilities three times daily and employing state-of-the-art ultraviolet systems to sanitize it. QR codes were also added to facilities’ signs in order to keep the public informed about water safety.
After reviewing the records of water tests and chlorination levels at the California Lane Park splash pad, no anomalies were detected, according to Arlington officials. The city noted that the splash pad had on average been chlorinated at levels three times higher than that recommended by the CDC this summer.
“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,” explained James Orloski, Arlington’s director of parks and recreation, in a written statement. “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.”