Chemicals at Splashtown Water Park in Texas Sends 26 to Hospital

“These are normal chemicals that are used every day at these facilities,” Ms. Neutzler said. “But these are the specific chemicals that we believe are causing the respiratory and skin irritations. We just don’t know why. We don’t know if there was too much. We don’t know if it was in the air. We don’t know if there was a malfunction.”

The park was last inspected for compliance with fire and life safety regulations on June 29 and for health regulations in April, the authorities said.

Ms. Hidalgo wrote in a tweet, “We’ve issued a closure order to investigate and ensure the park meets all requirements before reopening again.”

The park will be closed until the investigation is complete, the authorities said.

Six Flags said in a statement that “a small number of guests in a section of the park reported feeling ill with respiratory irritation.”

“The safety of our guests and team member is always our highest priority and the park was immediately cleared as we try to determine a cause,” the company said. “Out of an abundance of caution, the park has been closed for the day.”

Ms. Hidalgo said she believed the park should have been regularly recording pH levels, but such a log either doesn’t exist or hasn’t been found.

“But something obviously went wrong, and they should want — it would stand to reason — to have systems in place where the minute there’s something wrong, the system can record that,” she said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/17/us/waterpark-chemical-splashtown-texas.html