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Heat, evaporation and wind work against a desert pool all year, hardest in summer. Here is what actually happens between visits.
A pool in Carlsbad and a pool in La Quinta are not the same maintenance problem. Ours loses chlorine to ultraviolet light and heat faster, loses water to evaporation faster, and collects more debris per windy afternoon. The schedule has to match that or the pool spends half the summer catching up.
Free chlorine burns off in sunlight. In June, July and August, a valley pool sitting at 88 to 92 degrees can lose most of a week's chlorine in three or four days even with stabilizer in line. On a once-a-week schedule the pool is protected for the first half of the week and running thin for the second half. That second half is when algae gets its start, usually on the steps and in the shade of the spa wall where nobody looks.
Two shorter visits do not add up to more chemical. They add up to fewer hours spent below the line.
A valley pool can drop an inch or more of water in a week in summer. Every inch you top off brings in fresh tap water carrying calcium and dissolved solids, and the water that left as vapour took none of those minerals with it. So the pool concentrates, week over week, year over year. Calcium hardness climbs, pH drifts up, and scale starts looking for somewhere to land, usually the waterline tile and the salt cell.
This is why chemistry gets checked every visit rather than topped up on a schedule. The target is not a recipe, it is where the water actually sits that day.
One afternoon of wind puts a film on the surface and a layer in the skimmer baskets, and after a real dust event the filter pressure climbs within days. Netting and brushing twice a week keeps that from turning into a cloudy pool and a filter that needs pulling early.
Some can, and we will tell you so. A pool with real afternoon shade, low use, a good automatic cleaner and no heavy tree litter can hold on one visit a week most of the year. We look at that on the first visit rather than guessing from the address. If your pool is one of them, you should not be paying for the second visit.