Draining Your Pool
Do I need a permit to drain my Pool? The Town of Gilbert does not have a permitting process for swimming pool discharge. However, you still need to inform the Town of Gilbert of your intent to drain your pool. During the months of December through March, the information provided will be used to adjust your sewer charge rate. Providing this information will prevent you from being charged a higher amount due to this one-time event of draining and refilling your pool. Just complete the sewer recalculation form to provide us with the information we need.
For more information, please call 480-503-6400 (Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm) and a customer service representative will be happy to assist you. You will be asked to provide the following information:
- Your name, home address and an accurate daytime phone contact
- Your utility account number
- Approximate gallons of water your pool holds
- Date you plan to refill your pool
The Town of Gilbert currently offers residents three options for discharging water from a swimming pool.
- If possible, always drain all or a portion of your swimming pool
water, including backwash, on your own personal property first. Please
do not let your pool water overflow off of your own property. If only
a portion of your pool water can be drained onto your property, then
option #2 or #3 can be used for the remainder.
- Your next option is to drain the water into the curb and
gutter allowing the drainage to flow into your community’s storm
water retention basin with the following conditions:
· Always make sure that the chemical level of your pool water is as low as possible.
· This method should only be practiced if your street does not generally have flooding problems.
· Make sure your discharge hose is long enough to reach the curb as to prevent erosion of the soil.
· Please do not disturb or flood your neighbors when practicing this method.
Important Note: If you live in a lake community where your storm water drainage flows into a lake, have a salt water pool or you are only backwashing, please move on to option #3.
- Your last option is to drain the pool water into your sewer clean-out located in front of your home if the following applies:
· You cannot drain all of the pool water onto your personal property
· Your subdivision streets do not have a curb and gutter
· Your street typically experiences flooding problems
· You live in a lake community where the storm water drains into the lake
· You have a salt water pool
· You are only backwashing*
· You have a polluted stagnant “green” pool*
· You are discharging water after chlorine shocking or acid washing your pool
Option #3 is considered a last option because it does not make good economic sense to drain perfectly clean water into the sewer system and through the wastewater reclamation facility.
As a reminder, if you are draining into your sewer clean out during the months of January through March, you need to call 480-503-6400 to notify the Town. Otherwise, this one-time unusually large discharge may be incorporated as part of your average discharge monthly rate for the rest of the year
* Any discharge that would leave a residue in the gutter, such as backwash water, is prohibited by Gilbert's stormwater pollution prevention ordinance.