I cannot believe this nastiness...
Half of Americans admit to using a swimming pool as a bath. Here’s why you shouldn’t
Global News’ Leslie Young
WATCH: University of Alberta researchers look into how much pee is in pools
Nearly half of Americans say that they’ve rinsed off in a swimming pool after exercise, after yardwork, or even gone swimming as a substitute for a shower, according to a new poll.
RELATED
Aside from just being gross, these unhygienic activities can affect the chemical balance of the pool, according to Chris Wiant, chair of the Water Quality & Health Council.
After exercising or hard work, he said, “You generate all kinds of organic matter. Could be sweat, it could be dirt, could be oil, grease, sunscreen, whatever.
“All those are the things that react to the disinfectant in the pool. So they may utilize all the disinfectant.”
There’s not an infinite amount of disinfectant in a pool, he said. It generally gets added gradually as the water is filtered. When chlorine contacts sunscreen or another contaminant like makeup, it changes. “It’s no longer able to disinfect but just becomes a contaminant itself in the water.”
When that happens, there’s less chlorine left over to tackle serious pathogens in the water.
READ MORE: These are all the germs lurking in your public pool, waterpark
“Let’s just assume your body, you’ve got sunscreen, you’ve got makeup, you’ve been sweating, your personal hygiene is not very good, all those things are going to combine with the chlorine,” he said. “So now if the next person gets in and actually has some kind of a bacterial or a viral disease, then those viruses can’t be killed by the chlorine because it’s already been consumed by the other material.”
That characteristic chemical pool smell? It’s actually from the chemicals created when chlorine reacts to foreign substances, according to the American Chemistry Council.
Pool pathogens are serious business. According to a study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 27,000 people got sick in the U.S. between 2000 and 2014 as a result of dirty pool water.
The top culprit was a protozoa called Cryptosporidium, which can cause diarrhea and is actually resistant to chlorine.
READ MORE: Parasites, bacteria in U.S. pools made thousands of people sick, CDC says
This highlights another of the survey’s findings: people don’t wait long enough after a diarrhea attack before getting in the water.
One in four Americans would hop in the pool just an hour after having diarrhea, according to the survey.
“It’s virtually impossible to clean away all the bacteria, viruses or spores that might be associated with that kind of an illness,” said Wiant.
“What we find is that some of those diseases are pretty persistent, that you can have residual bacteria even the next day or even several days later. So you go to the pool, and what happens is that will get washed off in the pool.”
Then, it could be passed on to someone else, he said. The CDC says that diarrhea could be passed on for up to two weeksafter an illness.
https://globalnews.ca/news/5281054/pool-hygiene-safety-shower/
Half of Americans admit to using a swimming pool as a bath. Here’s why you shouldn’t
Global News’ Leslie Young
WATCH: University of Alberta researchers look into how much pee is in pools
Nearly half of Americans say that they’ve rinsed off in a swimming pool after exercise, after yardwork, or even gone swimming as a substitute for a shower, according to a new poll.
RELATED
- Parasites, bacteria in U.S. pools made thousands of people sick, CDC says
- These are all the germs lurking in your public pool, waterpark
Aside from just being gross, these unhygienic activities can affect the chemical balance of the pool, according to Chris Wiant, chair of the Water Quality & Health Council.
After exercising or hard work, he said, “You generate all kinds of organic matter. Could be sweat, it could be dirt, could be oil, grease, sunscreen, whatever.
“All those are the things that react to the disinfectant in the pool. So they may utilize all the disinfectant.”
There’s not an infinite amount of disinfectant in a pool, he said. It generally gets added gradually as the water is filtered. When chlorine contacts sunscreen or another contaminant like makeup, it changes. “It’s no longer able to disinfect but just becomes a contaminant itself in the water.”
When that happens, there’s less chlorine left over to tackle serious pathogens in the water.
READ MORE: These are all the germs lurking in your public pool, waterpark
“Let’s just assume your body, you’ve got sunscreen, you’ve got makeup, you’ve been sweating, your personal hygiene is not very good, all those things are going to combine with the chlorine,” he said. “So now if the next person gets in and actually has some kind of a bacterial or a viral disease, then those viruses can’t be killed by the chlorine because it’s already been consumed by the other material.”
That characteristic chemical pool smell? It’s actually from the chemicals created when chlorine reacts to foreign substances, according to the American Chemistry Council.
Pool pathogens are serious business. According to a study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 27,000 people got sick in the U.S. between 2000 and 2014 as a result of dirty pool water.
The top culprit was a protozoa called Cryptosporidium, which can cause diarrhea and is actually resistant to chlorine.
READ MORE: Parasites, bacteria in U.S. pools made thousands of people sick, CDC says
This highlights another of the survey’s findings: people don’t wait long enough after a diarrhea attack before getting in the water.
One in four Americans would hop in the pool just an hour after having diarrhea, according to the survey.
“It’s virtually impossible to clean away all the bacteria, viruses or spores that might be associated with that kind of an illness,” said Wiant.
“What we find is that some of those diseases are pretty persistent, that you can have residual bacteria even the next day or even several days later. So you go to the pool, and what happens is that will get washed off in the pool.”
Then, it could be passed on to someone else, he said. The CDC says that diarrhea could be passed on for up to two weeksafter an illness.
https://globalnews.ca/news/5281054/pool-hygiene-safety-shower/
. Mind you, there was a rinsing faucet that was actually closer. I don't need to tell you what color they were.
