CERTIFIED POOL OPERATOR
HANDBOOK PRACTICE TEST -2023
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ALREADY
PASSED AND GRADED A+
1. You operate a 120,000-gallon pool, and upon performing your hourly chemical
tests you observe the following readings: Total Available Chlorine reading is 1.6 free
available chlorine reading is 1.5 pH is 7.4 Your supervising lifeguard has just
informed you that you have had a fecal incident occur; a solid stool has been
discharged into the pool. According to the Centers for Disease Control, as the CPO,
you should do the following: - CORRECT ANS clear the pool and raise the free
chlorine to 2 ppm
2. Assuming that your local health department requires you to raise the free chlorine
to 5 ppm, how much sodium hypochlorite would be needed to raise the free chlorine
in the pool in question #1 to that level? - CORRECT ANS 3.5 gallons
3. You are the CPO for an indoor health club pool. The facility manager informs you
that he is receiving complaints about a strong chlorine odor in the pool area, and
several members have complained of eye irritation. The most likely cause of these
complaints is: - CORRECT ANS high levels of chloramines in the pool
4. To determine the level of chloramines in the water, you should do which of the
following? - CORRECT ANS test for total chlorine and free chlorine, then subtract
the free chlorine number from the total chlorine
5. You operate a 45,000 gallon indoor pool, and upon doing your hourly chemical
tests you observe the following readings:Total available chlorine is 2.2 Free available
chlorine is 1.4 and pH is 7.6 What is the level of chloramines in this pool? -
CORRECT ANS 0.8
7. You are the operator of a 330,000 gallon outdoor pool. Your local health
department requires you to perform a water balance calculation once monthly. Upon
performing the water tests necessary to perform this calculation, you observe the
following readings in your pool: Total alkalinity is 50 ppm pH is 7.2 Calcium
Hardness is 150 ppm Temperature is 76 degrees F Total Dissolved Solids is 500
ppm Using these readings, what is the Saturation Index for this pool? - CORRECT
ANS -0.8
8. To adjust the tested Total Alkalinity in the pool in question #7 to an acceptable
level, which chemical would be most appropriate? - CORRECT ANS Sodium
Bicarbonate
9. To adjust the tested pH in the pool in question #7 to an acceptable level, which
chemical would be most appropriate? - CORRECT ANS Sodium Carbonate
10. You are the CPO for a 28,000 gallon hotel pool. You perform a water balance
chemical test, and to your surprise, the Calcium Hardness is only 100 ppm. How
much calcium chloride (77%) would be required to increase this to 400 ppm?" -
CORRECT ANS 100.8 lbs.
11. You are the CPO for a 100 foot long, 50 foot wide country club pool. The average
depth of this pool is 7 feet. You return to the pool on Monday morning, after a rare
weekend off, and find that the auto-fill feature has failed to work, and the pool water
level is four inches too low. How many gallons of water must be added to return the
water to the proper level? - CORRECT ANS 12,495 gallons
, CERTIFIED POOL OPERATOR
HANDBOOK PRACTICE TEST -2023
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ALREADY
PASSED AND GRADED A+
12. You are the operator of a 3,000 gallon health club spa, which has an average of
100 users per day. According to the CPO Handbook, how often should the water in
this spa be changed? - CORRECT ANS 10 days
"13. You are the CPO for a large municipal swimming pool. This pool has a volume
of 560,000 gallons of water,and has an average daily bather load of 1300 people.
The pool is operated using high rate pressure sand filters. How often should you
backwash the filters?" - CORRECT ANS When the influent and effluent gauges
are 10 to 20 psi apart
14. In testing for Chlorine/Bromine in a commercial pool, DPD is preferred over OTO
because: - CORRECT ANS OTO only tests for Total Chlorine
15. Safety and rescue equipment should always be: - CORRECT ANS Kept
easily accessible around the pool
16. Which type of filter system will remove the smallest micron particles? -
CORRECT ANS diatomaceous earth
17. If the pump fails to prime, which of the following does not have to be checked? -
CORRECT ANS filter system pressure is too high
18. Oxidation Reduction Potential testing (ORP) is measured in? - CORRECT ANS
mV
19. High calcium hardness can result in what condition? - CORRECT ANS cloudy
water
20. Head first entry dives are: - CORRECT ANS only allowed in areas of the pool
that are not marked as 'NO DIVING'
21. Opening and closing checklists: - CORRECT ANS all of the above
22. You can become sick from ingesting water infected with Legionella bacteria -
CORRECT ANS false
23. Channeling of filters occurs when: - CORRECT ANS the FMR is exceeded,
and water cuts a channel through the media
24. The only physical factor that affects water balance is: - CORRECT ANS
temperature
25. To be classified as a disinfectant, a compound must kill or inactivate 99.9% of
contaminants as well as: - CORRECT ANS leave a measurable residual in the
water
26. Pools using chlorine gas as a disinfectant produce hydrochloric acid, which can
be neutralized with: - CORRECT ANS caustic soda or soda ash
27. When balancing swimming pool water, the following should be adjusted first: -
CORRECT ANS total alkalinity
28. A spa with water tested as pH 7.2, temperature 103, calcium hardness 600, total
alkalinity 120, and tds of 1,500 will be: - CORRECT ANS scale forming
29. When performing a water test, sample water should be collected: - CORRECT
ANS 18 inches below the surface, away from return line
30. Swimming pool circulation systems should be adjusted to remove: - CORRECT
ANS 75% from the surface
31. Vacuuming of the pool bottom should be done: - CORRECT ANS after foreign
matter has settled
