Skip to content
Peeing in the Pool
evmo
Sydneydev
The latest from science:
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/2014/mar/pool-pee/
<blockquote>The average swimmer introduces the equivalent of up to two shot glasses of urine into a pool each time he or she takes a dip, according to previous research.</blockquote>
Bottoms up!
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/2014/mar/pool-pee/
<blockquote>The average swimmer introduces the equivalent of up to two shot glasses of urine into a pool each time he or she takes a dip, according to previous research.</blockquote>
Bottoms up!
Tagged:
Comments
Or worse, as we learned from W.C. Fields.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
loneswimmer.com
We used to have a working scale in our locker room, and I would do a pre and post workout weigh in. For a typical 75 minute session, I would weigh 1.5 lbs less post workout. Factor in a 27 oz bottle of sport drink and that's a lot of perspiration. (Yes... I can get through 75 minutes without peeing)
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Sorry.
"I never met a shark I didn't like"
Those who pee in the pool
and liars.
Waterproof Adult Nappies (Diapers) also.
:-)
loneswimmer.com
http://www.wikihow.com/Pee-in-a-Swimming-Pool
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
Thankfully my long swims are in an outdoor pool at least...
http://notdrowningswimming.com - open water adventures of a very ordinary swimmer
Exactly my "issue"! I don't get out to pee anymore, unless the pool is completely empty, or I've had some Berocca
Here is the secret to being sure no one steals your lane: Go out of your way to cultivate friendships with all the Crabby Old Ladies at your pool. At the two pools I swim at I've done this for years (it can take quite awhile to break the ice with COL's). I always say "Hi" to them, notice when they have a new swimsuit, remember their names, spend a few minutes talking, remember their pet's names, and remember most other details that they tell me.
Now when I get out to use the loo, I'll say to one of them something like "Lucy, I'm sorry to bother you, but I need to get out for a moment to use the men's room. Could you tell anyone that tries to get in my lane that I'm not done with it yet?" A wolverine with rabies isn't half as formidible as a COL on a mission. Last Saturday I had exactly that happen and when I got back to my lane there were two guys that Lucy had not only kept from taking my lane, but she wouldn't even let them share the lane with me and made them go to other people's lanes instead. It looked like both of them were going to need extensive psychotherapy to deal with the emotional trauma that Lucy inflicted on them.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
For those that don't know Berrocca is a multi-vitamin that contains a ridiculous amount of Vitamin B complex which makes your pee fluorescent...
http://notdrowningswimming.com - open water adventures of a very ordinary swimmer
If that's the case, then I'd expect Vegemite (the food of the Gods) to do the same. The stuff has insane amounts of B vitamins.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
I do, however, swim after the men's team when my team practices at UMASS and dang, I know it's happening.
It's almost worse, however, when a member of the team spits a big loogie into my lane before they get out.
Peeing in the pool is gross.
Most people who spend more than an hour continuously in the pool (i.e., most of us) do it.
It is still gross.
I think it all stems from something I was told when I was a club swimmer in the 1980s. I was told that there was a special chemical in the pool that made pee turn pink if you went in the pool and then everyone would know what you were doing.
I only found out it was a myth about a year ago!
To be honest, I feel quite sick at the thought that others in the pool may be doing so. Yuk.
Scientists have long-known that when urea—a compound present in urine—combines with chlorine, it gives off nitrogen trichloramine (NCl3), a poisonous gas that can cause acute lung injury. Scientists monitoring the presence of nitrogen trichloramine during a national swimming competition found that it doubled after the first day, increasing by three to four times throughout the rest of the four-day event.
+
Until now, much less has been known about chlorine’s reaction with uric acid, another chemical in urine. However, recent research indicates that uric acid is responsible not only for more nitrogen trichloramine, but also for a large share—between 24% and 68%—of another dangerous gas, cyanogen chloride, that wafts around indoor swimming pools. If inhaled, the latter compound can harm the lungs, heart and central nervous system, says Jing Li, professor of applied chemistry at China Agriculture University and co-author of the new study. Both nitrogen trichloramine and cyanogen chloride have been linked to acute and chronic health problems among swimmers (pdf), as well as among lifeguards and pool staff.
+
What does this mean in practice? Imagine a smallish indoor pool during peak hours (pdf, p.4), with 20 swimmers using it simultaneously. Scientists estimate that each swimmer releases 50 mL (0.25 cups) of urine, which in this scenario would equal two pint glasses of pee in total. If the chlorine levels were consistent with those typical of pools in western Europe, that would cause cyanogen chloride concentrations of 12 µg/L (.012 mg/L)—a good bit higher than the the 5 µg/L that the US National Institutes of Health cites as the lowest irritant concentration.
+
What’s to be done? Li identifies two ways to decrease the concentration of cyanogen chloride. Upping the pool’s chlorine content reduces the cyanogen chloride problem (though it may exacerbate the nitrogen trichloramine problem). Better yet, he suggests: “swimmers can improve pool conditions by simply not urinating in pool.”
loneswimmer.com
I drink Berocca and share a lane with @loneswimmer
if I did it ye'd probably have read about it!!
neither a liar nor a piddler be ....
I tried to convince myself, but, orange flavour electrolyte, mixed with hot chocolate,
tastes nothing like Terry's Chocolate Orange ....
Goodness! It’s a fairly oft repeated saying I shared to make light of the situation. Obviously the humor got lost in the cross-cultural translation.
For the record, I am not calling @loneswimmer or any of you liars. I noticed several forum members "liked" my comment. Let’s just assume they simply appreciated the humor and their "like" was not a confession about how they void while training in pools.
I do not choose to be the poster child for pool peeing. Indeed there are far more prominent swimmers who deserve that title:
Diana Nyad* “She volunteered the bit about peeing in the pool, unprompted.” (from Evan)
And Ryan Lochte.
I do not publicly confess to nor do I endorse peeing in pools. It is bad, very bad. And gross, very gross. Don't do it. But if you do, never ever admit to it. Bad idea.
As we all know asthma rates are higher amongst pool swimmers. Those most affected at those who can swim properly or breathe closest to the surface. Therefore the ones most affected are little kids and those with a decent technique. The casual acceptance of pissing int the pool amongst adult swimmers because coaches (understandably) tell age groups they can't leave the pool which develops into a bad habit, is lamentable and everyone excuses it. Unfortunately, even most pool staff I've spoken with don't understand the problem.
As @David_Barra points out, all organics such as soap, conditioner, perfume, deodorant all contribute to the issue, something which is a particular recent development in the pool @SuirThing & I use, and we haven't been able to figure out why. There have been days recently when the taste of perfumes and deodorant in the water is so bad one feels nauseated especially if you are working hard. The pool management of course think @SuirThing & I are imagining it and dismiss us.
loneswimmer.com
I bet there are almost that many in this pool:
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
Seriously, as a lifeguard, that picture makes me queasy.....for many reasons.
It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/mar/01/how-much-pee-is-in-our-swimming-pools-new-urine-test-reveals-the-truth
EW!
It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.
I've no doubt of this, but I try not to think about it, just as when I swim open water, I try not to think about what lurks below the surface.
Or to put it in perspective about .00008% volume of the pool is pee. I wonder how much more is sweat, lotions, perfume, residual shampoo's, conditioners, dead skin, hair...........
Let's face it, many of those appalled at peeing in the pool don't necessarily take a real shower before getting in.
When I was in Reykjavik, Iceland a couple of years ago I swam at the beautiful Laugardalslaug Natatorium. Two fifty meter pools with very little chlorine. They have so much naturally heated water in Iceland they can just keep running fresh water through the pools almost like a river lowering the need for chlorine. That being said, they also require a compulsory naked shower and they actually observe you doing it. One must scrub the nether regions, lol. As I did my research, I knew this was coming but I think many Americans would be shocked. I'll trade it anytime for not having to deal with chlorine.
Actually it is closer to 0.01%, but that is still low.
At my pool, there are a few regulars where I can tell they've gotten in the pool without seeing them due to the stank coming off of them (perfume, cologne, and with one older woman, garlic. blech.) I asked the aquatic director to ask the guards to enforce the showering rule, and she was very hedge-y. I'm toying with the idea of reporting them to the city health department, mostly because my (basement) pool is really kind of gross. I try not to think about it too closely.
I love Sally's article. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/02/swimming-pee-public-pools
The perfumes and lotions... ohhhh lord are those bad! I try not to think of what lurks in the pool and to put my faith in chemistry to kill it! But the lotions and perfumes, I have no idea what these things are made of that they can stink up a while aquatic center pool!