Water conditions; cloudy, with a chance of corpses.

[Gob]

Authorities in the US state of Massachusetts are trying to find out how a body lay unnoticed in a swimming pool for more than two days as the public continued to use the facility.

Marie Joseph, 36, had used a slide at the Veterans Memorial Pool in Fall River on Sunday but failed to return to the surface.

The body was found on Tuesday when teenagers broke in for a night swim.

The permit for the pool, described as "cloudy", had expired six months ago.

The woman's body went unnoticed when a city health inspector examined the pool earlier on Tuesday, Fall River mayor William Flanagan told the BBC.

It was found resting on the bottom of the swimming pool.

"The inspector approved the pool, but noted in his report that the water was cloudy", said Mr Flanagan, adding that the public pool had remained open to swimmers from Sunday through Tuesday.

The swimming pool had not previously been inspected in about a year, and its permit had expired on 31 December 2010.

Mr Flanagan has ordered the immediate inspection of 21 public and semipublic pools in the town, while Massachusetts has closed dozens of state-run swimming pools as the investigation into Ms Joseph's death continues.

Two inspectors, who had stopped by the pool on Monday, have been placed on administrative leave.

An autopsy on Ms Joseph's body has been completed but the results have not yet been published.

Ms Joseph, a native of Haiti, had five children and worked as a housekeeper at a hotel in the state of Rhode Island.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13986769

[The Hen]

Had she gone to the pool alone? Did her family not wonder why she didn't return?

Weird as.

[Rick]

If ya can't see the main drain the pool should be closed...

[BoSoxGal]

Fall River, MA

Gotta love that place!

[Jarlaxle]

I work in MA and listen to MA radio all day...I have some input that didn't make the AP story. First and foremost, directly from several people that swam in that pool the day before Marie Joseph's body was found: there is absolutely no chance that woman's body was in the pool for two days. It was warm (80+ degrees) and sunny both days, and the pool was filled with people from opening to closing. One person (sounded like a teenager) spent three hours there, which included a dozen dives to the bottom (12'/3.5m) where Ms. Joseph's body was found. There is no possibility she was in the pool unnoticed for two days. She died someplace else & was dumped there.

As for the inspection: per the Boston Herald, it WAS inspected, but for some reason, the inspector never brought the certificate to the pool. (Don't look at me, I didn't inspect it.)

[Rick]

As for the inspection: per the Boston Herald, it WAS inspected, but for some reason, the inspector never brought the certificate to the pool. (Don't look at me, I didn't inspect it.)

We do pool inspections. Withholding the permit until until the pool is in compliance.

Once they are in compliance they must remain in compliance, the main drain being visible is one of those items.

I inspected the Pine Bluff municipal pool once, it was so cloudy you couldn't see the numbers on the side of the pool let alone the bottom we're talking shallow end. The life guard said he had it under control. I told the kid next to me to jump in and go to the bottom. I was the only Caucasian present, I made my point the pool was closed.

I was the bad guy...

[Jarlaxle]

IIRC (I tossed my Herald when I was done with it), the pool passed inspection. Per several people that were in it, the water was crystal clear and the bottom clearly visible.

[Rick]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/region ... ion=recent

“The investigation thus far establishes that the water in the pool was murky and cloudy from the time the pool opened for the season on Saturday, June 25th until the pool was closed by the pool staff on Tuesday afternoon,” Sutter said. “Visibility tests conducted with a police diver on Wednesday, June 29th, revealed that a submerged diver could not be seen at a depth of three-and-a-half to four feet below the surface of the water at the pool’s deep end.”

[Jarlaxle]

Yes, they're in full CYA mode. (And, I suspect, the filtration system was turned off Tuesday night, which will turn the water cloudy.) Again: Per several people that were in it, the water was clear and the bottom clearly visible. And again, also: several people made dives to the bottom.