The huge volumes of water we have all seen in video from North Dakota, and points south, pose obvious hazards.  Another, perhaps not so obvious, hazard is the potential threat of having dangerous chemicals polluting the water. Included in the list of hazardous chemicals are pool chemicals.

The EPA has issued a “Pre-Flood Household Hazardous Waste Prevention Checklist” to help people threatened by flood to move these materials to safer ground. We all understand that there’s a lot of important things to do when the flood threatens, but if there is time, items like oven cleaners, pool chemicals, insecticides, petroleum products, paint supplies and batteries should be secured. For the complete list, see this EPA webpage.