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Mar 27, 2008 6:04 pm US/Central
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Classes Resume At Rocori H.S. After Chemical Leak
COLD SPRING, Minn. (WCCO) ―
Students are back at Rocori High School in Cold Spring after a chlorine leak sickened dozens of students and adults on Wednesday.
School leaders said they'll re-open the pool Thursday night.
A spokeswoman at St. Cloud Hospital said there were 16 patients still in the hospital Thursday morning, but all weredischarged by the afternoon.
On Wednesday, at least 37 students and one adult at the high school were injured when chlorine gas leaked from the building's pool area.
Now, hazmat crews and other agencies are looking for the source of the problem.
"One of these controllers runs our bleach ... the other one runs our acid," said Ken Kraemer, who is in charge of the buildings and grounds at Rocori High School.
He said maintenance workers were fixing the pool's chlorine system. Water got in one of the pipes and they had to use air to get it out.
"There was air in the pumps and air shoots back into the pool. They said 'there's chlorine gas.' And I said 'no we do not have chlorine gas,'" said Kraemer. "When we started we had no students in the pool, I should have checked I admit to that ... I should have checked before I started the pumps ... but I didn't."
About 37 students and a teacher were treated at St. Cloud Hospital for exposure to chlorine.
Jeanine Nistler, the Director of Communications for Centra Care Health System said those patients had difficulty breathing and had a coughing and a burning sensation.
Greg Newinski with the St. Cloud assessment team said it wouldn't take much to make them sick.
A very, very small amount of chlorine could be enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room.
More than seven different agencies tested the pool Thursday.
"Our state officials took samples today, and said its perfect -- we could not have a better chemically balanced pool," said Kraemer.
A number of agencies are investigating this, including the agriculture department.
That sounds odd, but chlorine in a pool is considered a pesticide because it fights bacteria.
The Agriculture department said it hasn't pinpointed exactly what went wrong in the pool.
Sonya Goins, ProducerContact Sonya 
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)