In 2009 or so there was a yuuuge mysterious chemical vapor cloud that suddenly presented itself dangerously close to an L.A. subway stop:
The authorities had longheld fears a target like that might be attractive to Islamic baddies so instead of treating the incident like one of the many overcooked brownies incidents they routinely get (big eye roll), the responder fear-level that time was appropriately sky-high.
The LA Fire Dept, a hazmat team and even the FBI responded; the exact location was the exact location was the West Hollywood branch of the Standard Hotel.
The hotel staff first claimed they’d used chlorine and a small amount of muriatic acid (which ABSOLUTELY is never used to clean pools, as it will even dissolve teeth) to clean the hotel pool.
But the chem cloud had been yuge so the cops didn’t buy that and found several discarded 55 gallon barrels of muriatic acid (I used to use it in a lab I worked for and standard instructions are to wash any discarded container several times and then DISCARD the container..!).
The hotel almost had to pay a $500,000 fine.
It’s a huge mystery cuz that volume of muriatic acid might be enough to clean 1,000 or even 10,000 swimming pools, not one.
Some people note that when Mexican narcoCartels use acid for dead body disposal, they use muriatic acid so the totally unproven rumor is that at some point someone at the hotel might have literally poured an ex-person/people down the drain, there.
Here is the original link for the incident:
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/31/local/me-standard31
Schiff-hotel bkmk
Actually, chlorine is used as a disinfectant in pools, and muriatic acid is used to clean calcium deposits off the tile in pools. It is also used as a additive to level the pH when the acid content gets too low to prevent algae growth. Anybody who maintains their own chlorine based pool keeps a supply of both on hand.
Bump
Ah...Houston we have a problem with your quote.
Growing up, my family had a 16 Ft. wide X 32' Ft. long, 3-1/2' Ft. deep to 7-1/2' ft. deep swimming pool. If I recall correctly, approx. mid to late spring, and the water was still greenish, we would do what was called "SHOCK" the water with a HEAVY DOSE {2 (two) quarts of muriatic acid} and Chlorine. The muriatic acid would eat or get rid of the slim of the sides of the pool.
I think it takes about two weeks to get the water back to swim-able condition. I know we had a water tester kit, and when we would take samples, you had to get your arm down approx. 18" in. or so. Not from the top of the water / pool. Depending on the color after adding something from the kit, it told you what to add or subtract chemical wise. Plus the pool filter was then running non-stop. The filter material we used was call earth I think, a light gray in color material. During this short period of time you would re-charge the filter every three or four days. That involved back-washing the earth material out of the filter. A very Messy job, but was worth the pain in the neck for a clean pool.
In case your wondering where I grew up, I'm talking Long Island, Suffolk County, New York.
I'm guessing the barrel of powder {kinda heavy grit} form Chlorine we would buy each year was approx. 40 - 50 pounds. {approx 2' Ft. Dia. X 3' Ft. High} And my dad made us each read the warning label, which basically said do not let the contents come in contact with water, because a Chlorine BOMB could take place. And he would talk about World War 1 (one) and how Chlorine BOMB's were used.
Muratic acid is HCL... (Hydrocloric acid).
So the ‘’mysterious chemical vapor” would be chlorine.
You don’t say what strength the acid was that was found. That could have been anywhere form a very weak 4% to a fuming 36wt%.
Was it ‘kosher’ HCL by any chance? /sarc