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If you love to swim laps, or spend summer days poolside,?you will want to look at this. A new study within the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters suggests the typical pool?may contain a?lot of urine.
Researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada set out to determine the extent of pee contamination?in pools. To do this, they tested water from pools and spas in 2 Canadian cities for acesulfame potassium, or Ace-K, a widely consumed artificial?sweetener?present in supermarket staples like frozen meals, packaged cookies, and diet sodas.
What does?sweet pool water have to do with pee? The amount of Ace-K inside a pool is a helpful measure of the quantity of urine present, since the ingredient?isn’t?metabolized by the body, is excreted exclusively through?urine, and doesn’t get divided by chlorine.
When researchers compared the amount of the sweetener in pool water and plain tap water, they discovered that the previous contained up to 570 times more Ace-K. Based on those concentrations, they concluded that a 220,000-gallon commercial-size pool likely contains almost 20 gallons of urine. A residential pool probably holds about two gallons.
The existence of pee in your pool is not only gross; it also raises real health questions, the researchers say. They indicate recent studies that have shown body fluids like urine and sweat can react with disinfectants within the water to form disinfection byproducts (or DBPs), compounds that may cause uncomfortable symptoms like eye diseases and?respiratory problems. Some preliminary research has even linked DBPs?to cancer when they’re consumed.
So is it not particularly healthy to wade in other people’s wee? Don’t cancel your local pool membership at this time. Rutgers University environmental health expert Clifford Weisel, PhD, told NPR that people shouldn’t stop swimming-but they should be conscious of the risks.
Here’s options to consider: Indoor pools might be more harmful for individuals who already are afflicted by respiratory problems, like asthma. The harmful compounds build up within the?air. And a lack of natural sunlight means they’re not as likely to collapse.?
What are you able to do concerning the pee problem? For just one, don’t ‘go’ within the pool. Also make sure you?rinse off before you begin, says lead researcher?Xing-Fang Li, PhD. A?one-minute shower can remove much of?the sweat that might interact with disinfectants?to create those health-compromising byproducts, she told NPR.
