Don’t Pee in the Pool: You Could Kill Someone
I pee in the pool. So do you, you can admit it. That said, I might think twice about doing it next time as new research at Purdue University reveals that chlorine combining with sweat and urine can lead to “volatile disinfection products” which harm the lungs. You mean that’s what I’m coughing up after a three day meet?
This isn’t a knock on the Missouri Grand Prix, the organizers did a fantastic job and the event was memorable. But I know that my teammates and I were all having coughing fits by the last day and it took a couple days for that to clear out of our lungs. As one of my teammates put it: “This can’t be healthy.” Like most things in the swimming community, evidence was just anecdotal and there was no science behind our claims. Until now.
Apparently the problem, according to Purdue environmental engineering professor Ernest R. Blatchley III, is that pools test for inorganic byproducts, not organic. In English: “What we are trying to do is investigate the chemistry of the reactions between chlorine and the stuff that people put in swimming pools: sweat and urine,” Blachley told Science Daily. Blachley then went on to note, “Some indoor swimming pools seem to have a characteristic chlorine odor. You may think you’re smelling chlorine, but you are probably smelling a mixture of disinfection byproducts. If their concentrations get high enough, then they can become an irritant to your respiratory system, to your skin and to your eyes.”
Favorite quote of the article? “If you don’t understand what’s in the soup, you can’t know how to treat the water.” I have been to enough public pools to know the accuracy of using the word “soup” in that statement. Anyone else re-enacting the scene from The Crying Game/Ace Ventura behind their computer right now?
Final words of wisdom: When you go to a pool, don’t breathe.
Comment by Mel Stewart, Gold Medal Mel
Posted on February 26th, 2008 at 10:16
This is a 5000 word feature story, David. I won’t to know more. Rip it up, stretch it out. I can’t believe my years of couching inside pools was because of pee pee….
Comment by Sonny Boy Kiefer
Posted on February 26th, 2008 at 11:00
I want a second opinion!
Comment by Jessica
Posted on February 26th, 2008 at 11:56
Free chlorine + organic products containing ammonia (basically all human waste “pee pee” = chloramine. Chloramine is volatile (aka evaporates and floats conveniently a few inches above the water) and makes you hack….Do a search on google for Chloramine and find that it’s not the best thing to start breathing.
Comment by Jessica
Posted on February 26th, 2008 at 11:57
ok so: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramine
here is some info. thanks wikipedia!
Comment by button
Posted on February 26th, 2008 at 12:22
this is a story that’s going to really take off. while air handling systems seem to have improved greatly, there are obviously still issues.
indiana state university pool was horrible in early 80’s. often we’d have to breath that cloud that hovered just inches above the water surface. try getting enough air while doing a “lung-buster” - miserable!
Comment by Adam
Posted on February 26th, 2008 at 13:38
I’ve always been very good about not peeing in the pool. However, there was a 3 year period in high school when I did it deliberately everyday at practice. I had this guy who was a year older than me and a faster freestyler who was the original slack. He’d leech (we used that word as a verb for “drafting”) most every set even though he should have been leading the lane. The coach couldn’t stand him. I’d lead and he’d leave two second behind me. Literally. Then, he’d tap my toes after every flip turn to let me know he was there.
So, every time we did a pull set or something where I could just use my upper body, I’d let flow just for the satisfaction of knowing he was riding in my wake of pee. I’d say that made us even.
Unfortunately, there was another guy on the team who would walk up behind people, start fanning water/urine towards his victim and ask “is the water getting warmer”? Same guy used to wait until a freshman was washing shampoo out of his hair in the shower and pee on the dude’s leg. The victim would even know it until he got the shampoo out of his eyes and looked down. Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell the difference between cascading warm water and a pee stream on your leg.
We had a classy swim team. Don’t know if this has anything to do with the original topic, but I am just chuckling remembering the crap we pulled in high school.
Comment by Sonny Boy Kiefer
Posted on February 26th, 2008 at 17:07
Dave, I want you to know I got out of practice in order to use the urinal (as opposed to the usual method of relieving myself) today just because of this article.
Comment by The Screaming Viking!
Posted on February 26th, 2008 at 20:55
I run a pool and it has great air quality compared to many of the pools I go to for meets. My eyes water and I start to hack after just a few hours at a lot of places, but I am on deck at ours for 10-16 hours a day all year and I deal with none of that.
The only time my facility has air issues is if the circulation is turned off for a period of time. The facility was built in the 70’s and uses diatomaceous earth filtration, (which I have been told was a fad for a while back then,) and is not installed much any more in modern facilities.
DE filtration systems filter down to 2 microns, while I have heard that sand filters typically only get down to 5 microns. Does anyone out there know enough to be able to tell me if the DE system is the reason our air seems to be better than most?