Stil jete

How much urine is in our pools?

How much urine is in our pools?

How much urine is there really in swimming pools? A group of scientists who conducted a very special study thought to answer this question.

The more hygiene conscious will shudder at this fact, but there are actually a lot of people peeing in the pool. A recent study has confirmed this.

Scientists were able to confirm the full extent of this "crime" using a test developed to estimate the amount of urine added to a large volume of water. The test works by measuring the concentration of acesulfame potassium (ACE), a common artificial sweetener found in processed foods that is eliminated unchanged from the body.

After monitoring sweetener levels in two public swimming pools in Canada over a three-week period, it was calculated that swimmers released 75 liters of urine in a large pool (about 830,000 liters, one-third the size of an Olympic-sized pool). Enough to fill a medium-sized trash can. They released 30 liters into a second pool, much smaller in size (about half) of the first.

While the researchers could not confirm exactly how many visitors chose to urinate in the water instead of going to the bathroom, the findings suggest that the contents of the urine were filled several times a day.

Even hot tubs are not exempt from this phenomenon, on the contrary. Measurements from eight hot tubs revealed even higher urine levels. A hotel jacuzzi had three times the concentration of the sweetener than the worst pool.

In total, the team took samples from 31 different pools and hot tubs in two Canadian cities and found that the sweetener was present in 100% of the samples, with concentrations up to 570 times higher than the level in tap water samples.

"We want to use this study to promote public education about appropriate pool hygiene practices," said researcher Blackstock. "We all need to respect others and make sure we get out of the pool to use the bathroom when our bodies require it."

In an anonymous survey, 19% of adults admitted to peeing in the pool at least once. And professional swimmers have confessed to doing it routinely.

Even swimming champion Michael Phelps has said that this is completely acceptable behavior. "I think everyone pees in the pool," he said. "Chlorine kills it, so that's good."

While chlorine and other disinfectants are an effective way to kill germs found in pools, they don't work right away, says the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control.

Even compounds in urine, including urea, ammonia and creatinine, have been found to react with pool disinfectants to form byproducts known as DBPs, which can cause eye and respiratory tract irritation. Long-term exposure to them is linked to asthma in professional swimmers and those who routinely work in pools.