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Pee, Not Chlorine, Causes Red Eyes from Swimming Pools: CDC (2015)
- ravenstine 8y agoWhy do pools still use chlorine? Is it just because it's really cheap? I've seen non-chlorine pool treatments advertised in the past but haven't been to a single pool in 20+ years that wasn't chlorinated. http://www.baquacil.com/ http://www.baquacil.com/ EDIT: Also, ewww.
- jhawk28 8y agoSome are saline (salt) based instead of chlorine.
- 24gttghh 8y agoWhich still produces chlorine[0] [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_water_chlorination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_water_chlorination Seawater salt is NaCl after all.
- learc83 8y agoSaltwater pools still use a chlorine generator so they aren't chlorine free.
- nkozyra 8y agoWhich still results in chlorinated pools.
- ISL 8y agoSalt = NaCl.
- astazangasta 8y agoChlorine = Cl2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_bond#Covalent_bond https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_bond#Covalent_bond
- 24gttghh 8y agoChlorine Gas = Cl2, which is generated by electrolysis of NaCl in a saltwater pool setup.
- SCAQTony 8y agoDoes chlorine hurt your eyes: "...22 April 1915 shortly after 17:00; French troops in the path of the gas cloud sustained about 6,000 casualties. Many died within ten minutes and others were blinded. Chlorine gas reacts with water to form hypochlorous acid, destroying moist tissue such as the lungs and eyes..." Bromine, ozone, osmosis and of course chlorine are what makes pool water safe. Bromine is usually used in warmer pools, hot tubs and spas. It's weird to swim in for your lips taste salty. I seem to float better in bromine water but it is most likely my imagination. Ozone or ozonated pools are so clean you can drink from them. the 2008 Beijing Olympic pool was ozonated. Caveat, in a public pool setting with lots of bodies and such an ozonated pool will need some chlorine to augment its safety. Nature loves stagnant water, (as do mosquitoes) so filtration is very important. Osmosis is very good and as a result, you need less chlorine. The water in the Bahamas is so clear because of the sun radiating it and the circulation. I am a swimmer and I blogged about the subject for years at the SCAQblog
- Liquix 8y agoIt's just "the way it's done" in an aging industry without much incentive for innovation/change. Why risk time and money on a new chlorine-free product when 98% of your customers are happily paying for what you already stock?
- nkingsy 8y agoBromine is basically the same thing, Ozone can cause respiratory issues. I haven't seen an alternative that was demonstrably better.
- learc83 8y agoThat system uses peroxide which has other trade offs compared to chlorine. There is no magic bullet.
- chomp 8y agoI don't know how much that stuff costs, but chlorine is pretty cheap and easy to deal with. A bucket will last me almost 6 months and is like a hundred bucks. I shove some tablets into my chlorinator and it just works. It's easy to find pool companies who know how to deal with chlorine, and there's a wealth of information online on dealing with a chlorine pool. None of that exists for esoteric pool treatments.
- scott_s 8y agoI was curious, did some googling, found a quora comment characterizing Baquacil as less effective, more expensive and not as scalable: https://www.quora.com/Why-do-they-put-chlorine-in-swimming-pool-Are-there-chlorine-free-swimming-pool-in-usa https://www.quora.com/Why-do-they-put-chlorine-in-swimming-p...
- JohnJamesRambo 8y agoThe favorite pool I have ever been in had bromine instead of chlorine. The water was so silky and velvety and didn't sting at all. Totally different experience. It was in Hot Springs, Arkansas and the specific chemistry of the water there made it where they couldn't use chlorination due to interactions with the unique water there. I wish all pools were brominated. It was in the neat pool on the side of a hill here- https://tinyurl.com/yyq4k6tb https://tinyurl.com/yyq4k6tb. https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenlund/71854674 https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenlund/71854674 >Unlike chloramines, bromamines are disinfectants with activity that rivals that of either free chlorine or free bromine. In addition, bromamines do not produce the noxious odors and associated eye and skin irritation attributed to chloramines. https://www.poolspanews.com/facilities/maintenance/sanitation-with-brominating-products_o https://www.poolspanews.com/facilities/maintenance/sanitatio...
- saagarjha 8y agoBromine is more stable at higher temperatures, so that’s why it’s commonly used in places like hot tubs.
- rlonstein 8y agoWhen I had a swimming pool, I used borax (the same 20 Mule Team stuff sold along side clothes washing detergent) to adjust the ph with the added benefits that it suppressed algae, made for soft feeling water, and reduced my use of Chlorine tabs and shock. I did need a more complete test kit than the usual test strips or two dropper kit.
- StrictDabbler 8y agoThey also brominate the water on all the Disney water rides, which is why Pirates of the Caribbean has such a distinct smell.
- ravenstine 8y agoI've wondered about that musty smell! Always loved it for some reason.
- viburnum 8y agoIf you've ever been lucky enough to swim in a pool that's just been filled up, you know this is true.
- teekert 8y ago"Approximately 58 per cent of Canadians admitted to peeing in the pool at least once in a recent survey of 9,500 people conducted by Travelocity." Never looking a Canadians the same ever again.
- nabla9 8y agoFinland had a serial pooper scare last year. Serial pooper takes fourth dump in Oulu's Raksila swimming hall pool https://metropolitan.fi/entry/serial-pooper-takes-fourth-dump-in-oulu-s-raksila-swimming-hall-pool https://metropolitan.fi/entry/serial-pooper-takes-fourth-dum...
- ptaipale 8y agoI went to check if he was caught... and found out that there was another serial pooper in Haapavesi this January. (Ilta-Sanomat January 11). I'm convinced also very many of terrorism crimes are simply copycats who want to see headlines.
- hyperbovine 8y agoA shall-remain-nameless friend worked summers as a lifeguard at the local YMCA as a teenager. Lifeguarding is a stressful, hot, long, low-paying job. Enthusiasm can wane, especially at the end of summer. As a favor to her fellow co-workers, said friend went ahead and shat the pool on her last day, mandating a 24-hr public health closure of the facility, and thus gifting everyone a free day off.
- sizzzzlerz 8y agoAnd Canadians are supposed to be the polite ones.
- teekert 8y agoOMG.
- braythwayt 8y agoTo paraphrase a HaHaOnlySerious joke about diving: "There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who have peed in a pool. And those who lie about it."
- sizzzzlerz 8y agoI've always wanted a product that you could add to the swimming pool water that reacts to human urine by coloring the water immediately surrounding the pee-er. Say a neon orange or red. Over time, the colored water gets diluted and disappears. Maybe pee-shaming is what's required to stop people from doing it.
- strangemonad 8y agoThe quantity of urea would be to low unfortunately for any indicator compound. https://youtu.be/S32y9aYEzzo https://youtu.be/S32y9aYEzzo
- eesmith 8y agoAnd Snopes, at https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/piscine-of-the-crime/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/piscine-of-the-crime/ : > No matter what your parents might have told you, there isn’t any magical chemical that when added to a swimming pool will reveal the presence of urine in the water by producing a brightly-colored cloud:
- thom 8y agoI may be missing the joke here, but for many years swimming pools merely _claimed_ they had this, to discourage people.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- cbsks 8y agoI distinctly remember hearing--and believing--that rumor when I was growing up. Now that I know it isn't true, I'm not afraid to pee in the pool ;)
- unimpressive 8y agoWell that's certainly antisocial.
- dleslie 8y agoAnd this is why I prefer pools that are athletic-focused, rather than pools that are entertainment-focused. They really ought to be considered as separate facilities.
- _i____ii_______ 8y agohttps://youtu.be/0iKAyfaPqKM https://youtu.be/0iKAyfaPqKM
- misterman0 8y agoAnd now YT thinks I'm into pee clips. Thx!
- clarkevans 8y agoThere exist more articulate writings on this subject. Chloramines are formed when urea (pee and sweat) meets chlorine [1,2]. It contributes to athlete asthma [3,4,5,6,7]. It is an identified occupational health issue [8]. Chloramines are a concern with aquatic facility operation [9,10]. One way to help is to use UV filtering [11,12]. I believe the solution is just better aquatic center ventilation [13] especially moving air across the water surface [14]. [1] https://nextgws.com/chloramine-simplified-chemistry-lesson/ https://nextgws.com/chloramine-simplified-chemistry-lesson/ [2] https://chlorine.americanchemistry.com/Science-Center/Chlorine-Compound-of-the-Month-Library/Chloramines-Understanding-Pool-Smell/ https://chlorine.americanchemistry.com/Science-Center/Chlori... [3] https://www.webmd.com/asthma/news/20040611/chlorine-pools-breathing-trouble#1 https://www.webmd.com/asthma/news/20040611/chlorine-pools-br... [4] https://lungdiseasenews.com/2015/04/07/competitive-swimming-linked-to-asthma-in-new-study/ https://lungdiseasenews.com/2015/04/07/competitive-swimming-... [5] http://www.jiaci.org/issues/vol21issue3/12.pdf http://www.jiaci.org/issues/vol21issue3/12.pdf [6] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-asthma-swimmers-idUSKBN0MT2I620150402 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-asthma-swimmers-id... [7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4351252/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4351252/ [8] https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/29/4/690 https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/29/4/690 [9] https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/aquatics-professionals/chloramines.html https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/aquatics-professio... [10] https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/park-ridge/sports/ct-prh-maine-south-high-school-pool-health-concerns-tl-0208-20160208-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/park-ridge/sports/ct-... [11] https://www.poolspanews.com/facilities/maintenance/technical-guide-to-using-uv-sanitation-on-swimming-pools_o https://www.poolspanews.com/facilities/maintenance/technical... [12] http://halmapr.com/news/hanovia/2008/07/26/uv-chloramine-reduction-disinfection-and-water-savings-in-one-neat-package/ http://halmapr.com/news/hanovia/2008/07/26/uv-chloramine-red... [13] http://aquaticnews.com/2018/04/17/indoor-pool-air-quality-the-ultimate-solution-to-bad-air/ http://aquaticnews.com/2018/04/17/indoor-pool-air-quality-th... [14] http://paddockevacuator.com/ http://paddockevacuator.com/ Disclaimer: I've got no relation or interest in Paddock (the 1st and last 2 links), I just happen to be a swim coach.
- xiii1408 8y agoThis has been well-known by swimmers for a long time: chlorine itself is pretty much fine for you. It's the chemical reaction of chlorine with waste products, including human waste, that produces toxic byproducts and the concomitant "pool smell." If you swim in a well-maintained pool (e.g. one of my university's competition swimming pools), there's no "pool smell."
- RandallBrown 8y agoThe scent of bleach and the scent of "pool smell" are almost exactly the same to me.
- SteveGregory 8y agoThat is because both are the same thing: sodium hypochlorite
- eesmith 8y agostrangemonad elsewhere here posted a link to a video evaluating the question of how much pee there is in pools, using the excretion of an artificial sweetener - which is only in urine and not, like urea, also in sweat - as the indicator. The presenter is also dubious about the origin of the smell, and thinks that it comes from the chlorine, not the trichloramine product of chlorine interacting with urea. So he tests it out by mixing pool chlorine into two buckets, putting urine in one of them, covering for a few days, and smelling. That experiment is run starting at https://youtu.be/S32y9aYEzzo?t=284 https://youtu.be/S32y9aYEzzo?t=284 . The chlorinated water, even at 4x concentration, "smells just like water." While the one where urine was added "smells like a pool."
- fosco 8y agois it possible that this is simply sweat instead of actual pee? serious question - I thought sweat is mostly comprised of the same excretion. just surprised 'peeing in the pool' is so normal.
- 8y ago
- wuschel 8y agoIf my memory serves me well, it is not chlorine, but the product from hypochloric acid[1] and urea/urea-derivatives that that make eyes hurt. Although, I don't know if they use Cl2 as reagent here. [1] Hypochloric acid is generated in a disproportionation reaction: Cl2 + H2o --> HCl + HOCl
- ham_sandwich 8y agoAs a longtime swimmer and water polo player, my eyes have been absolutely wrecked by harsh pools many, many times. However, I don’t think it’s pee. First off, every swimmer pees in the pool. I have been a part of tens of thousands of man-hours in the pool and seen people get out to pee maybe three times. I have been in the first games of the day at water polo tournaments and have seen them chlorine shock the water followed by everyone’s eyes getting decimated. To me, the devil is unbalanced chlorine coupled with the thick, thick film of sunscreen that develops in the water after a scorching day with hundreds of people jumping in and out. You get desperate when your eyes get that destroyed. The classic trick is to fill a pair of goggles with milk and just put ‘em on for a few minutes.
- crescentfresh 8y ago> First off, every swimmer pees in the pool A friend expressed this to me once when I caught her peeing in the pool and I was honestly skeptical that "everyone does it" as I would have never felt comfortable doing that. Still don't.
- barbecue_sauce 8y agoI don't do it, but I also don't really care if other people do.
- superkuh 8y agoYup. It's pretty crazy (and gross) that people think this. People don't have any trouble urinating in the proper place in other contexts.
- ham_sandwich 8y agoWhen you’re in the water that much, I think you just end up getting desensitized to it. I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Teammates going to a corner and openly declaring “don’t come over here I’m peeing.” Coaches literally encouraging it, saying it’s not worth it to get out and miss a set when you can stay in the water: “your urine is just a tiny, minuscule fraction of the total volume anyways” When you spend that much time in the water with your teammates, it’s no longer an “open secret” that eveyone is doing it. It’s simply open.
- 1e1f 8y ago"People who swim while they have diarrhea and unleash even very tiny amounts of germs like Cryptosporidium (or 'crypto' for short)"
- howard941 8y ago"are evil"
- quickthrower2 8y ago“are shitbags”
- peter_retief 8y agoDamn
- keypusher 8y agoChlorine reacts with pretty much any organic compound (hair, sweat, skin, urine) to produce chloramine. And yes, while this is the thing that irritates your eyes, it's not to say that chlorine is harmless either. There is evidence for respiratory and organ damage from extended exposure to chlorinated pools. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4351252/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4351252/
- nostrademons 8y agoThere's plenty of organic compounds within our respiratory tracts and other mucus membranes, so it would make sense that if chlorine gets in there, regardless of whether there's already chloramine in the environment, there soon will be.
- porphyrogene 8y agoThis may be the same issue as is seen in crop pesticides. The practitioners don’t trust the science and try to play it safe by adding more than is advised.
- xkcd-sucks 8y agoSo basically, if chlorine isn't generating chloramine, then the chlorine is useless to begin with
- dangerbird2 8y agoYes, which is why it's important to regularly "shock" the pool to oxidize the chloramines, typically by superchlorinating the pool, but much more effectively by adding ozone.
- photojosh 8y agoWe just got a pool recently (salt-water chlorinator), and the advise out there on how to maintain one is just utter superficial garbage. I'd never heard your statement before, and I thought the shocking was just to keep the right level of chlorine. Seems like all the advice is heavily biased towards just getting your local pool shop to tell you what you need to add! Your comment on ozone made me do some quick searching, and [0] suggests to me that I should also run my pool pump for longer at lower RPM. I'm interested too in how I can minimise the cost of running the pool, which that will help with. [0] https://aquamagazine.com/service/ozone-and-uv-systems-allow-pool-owners-to-approach-no-chlorine-systems.html https://aquamagazine.com/service/ozone-and-uv-systems-allow-...
- tyingq 8y agoSo how much water do you need before it's socially acceptable? I pee in the lake. What about a large pond or a really huge pool in a water park?
- gambiting 8y agoI feel like in the lake or a natural pond there's plenty of bacteria who will be more than happy to eat it up. In a pool you specifically kill all the bacteria, so you forever swim in a soup of chemicals and urine until the water is replaced.
- ams6110 8y agoOr the other way to look at it, is that there's so much bacteria, algae, rotting plant and animal matter, bird shit, fish shit, etc. in lake and pond water that a little human urine won't appreciably add to the risk of swimming in it.
- supermw 8y agoIf that's true then why do people go nuts if you shit in a river while camping?
- michaelmrose 8y agoThey are picturing themselves drinking your shit most likely. Historically human beings contaminating the same water they draw from has been a substantial cause of illness even if campers now are much more apt to get water from a bottle.
- supermw 8y agoWouldn't it be very diluted, to the point it is no more harmful than whatever else may be in that river water?
- 8y ago
- mcny 8y agoAnecdotal but I was at a hotel on a weekday. Nobody else had been in the pool all day as far as I know when I jumped in the pool. Still got slightly red eyes.
- Kenji 8y agoThis is bullshit. I get red eyes and inflammation from swimming in the chlorinated pool in our backyard if I keep my eyes open under water, and I know for a fact that nobody pees in there, unless evil goblins sneak into our backyard to relieve themselves.
- kfwhp 8y agoThis is the reason I never go to pools. You're basically swimming in a solution of pee, sweat, vaginal fluids, and God knows what else.
- tapanjk 8y ago> The only solution is to pee in the pool, then at least you think it's your own......... This caught my eye in the comments at the bottom of the article. It answers the question that we all asked (sometimes of ourselves): Why would anyone pee in the pool?
- g051051 8y agoI've been in pools that I'm 100% certain no one had peed in, and still got red eyes. I'm certain because I was the only one who swam in it (a backyard pool) and I know I never did.
- cm2012 8y agoI think based on the article it's because of your sweat mingling with the chlorine.
- chaoticmass 8y agoMe: I'm allergic to cats. Cat Owner: It's actually the cat saliva you're allergic to. Me: facepalm
- Stevvo 8y agoProbably peed in by wildlife
- ghostbrainalpha 8y agoAmbient pee if you will. Or background pee from the hose used to fill the pool.
- rataata_jr 8y agoOr House flies.
- tapanjk 8y agoSame experience but in a hotel swimming pool with continuous recycling. After sitting next to the pool for an hour or more, with no one in the pool, I would dive in and find the chlorine too high and end up with eyes red.
- ryanmarsh 8y agoUmm, pool owner here. This is horseshit. Come over and I will drain my pool, fill it up with fresh water, stabilize the chemistry and give it just a bit too much chlorine and lets see if your eyes don’t get red.
- Domenic_S 8y agoFormer pool owner here, for reasonable values of "just a bit too much" they won't get red. Eye irritation is a function of pH and unfiltered particulates. Check out the Trouble Free Pool forum, you might save some money and learn some stuff!
- Zimahl 8y agoThat was his point. Public swimming pools crank up the chlorine to counteract the number of people using them.
- alexhultman 8y agoI've been a swimmer for 15 years and I had to get used to floating boogers and used band aids and I can just imagine how much dingleberry I have swallowed over time!
- b0bby_tabl3s 8y agoYou gonna blink that piss?
- yalogin 8y agoSo if the eyes turn red in the pool does it mean there isn't enough Chlorine in it?
- raverbashing 8y agoI wonder if there is a technically feasible (and cheap) way of eliminating those substances from the water (apart from the obvious "cycling it" way)
- theothermkn 8y agoAlright, I'm taking the karma hit. Why in the fuck is this on HN? How is this interesting to "hackers?" This is exactly the kind of click-baity stuff that HN is supposed to be known for not having. I just don't get it. I know we're not supposed to complain about how it ain't like the good ol' days on HN, but come the fuck on. Come. The. Actual. Fuck. On. This thread is indistinguishable from reddit. To wit: https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/3agrrv/cdc_red_eyes_while_swimming_caused_by_urine_not/ https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/3agrrv/cdc_red_eyes_w... While I'm on this tear, this long holiday weekend has been the absolute worst for one-liners, memes, and general low-effort pseudo-contributions. It's been amazing. My only constructive hypothesis is that the recent investment in reddit by a Chinese media firm has caused an exodus, and the refugees have ended up here. If so, can you fuckers knock it off? You're turning HN into actual garbage. Thank you.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- thinkingemote 8y agoThere's always one of these types of comments, your account was made in 2014 so I imagine you might have visited https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html "If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." I guess this gratifies people's intellectual curiosity? Feel free to flag the submission.
- danielpal 8y agoanother shocker. The smell of "Chlorine" in the pools is not caused by "chlorine" but by the urine. Chlorine has no smell when mixed with water. Add urine, and you get the "Chlorine" smell thats typical of pools. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S32y9aYEzzo&t=607s&frags=pl%2Cwn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S32y9aYEzzo&t=607s&frags=pl%... https://chlorine.americanchemistry.com/Science-Center/Chlorine-Compound-of-the-Month-Library/Chloramines-Understanding-Pool-Smell/ https://chlorine.americanchemistry.com/Science-Center/Chlori...
- marcoperaza 8y agoKind of a deceptive video, which might make you think that if no one peed in the pool, there would be no pool smell. Urea is what reacts to create trichloramine, which gives off the smell. But urea, as the video acknowledges, also comes from sweat. Yet they go on to talk about chlorine reacting with urine as being the sole cause of the smell. They should have gone into what percent of the urea comes from sweat vs. urine.
- sriku 8y agoA colleague and friend of mine once commented that having open designated smoking areas is like having a designated peeing area in a swimming pool.
- Simulacra 8y agoOh. Well, sorry guys...
- saluki 8y agoMy Great Aunt is in hospice care at home, I was talking with her yesterday about a sign she had by her pool when I was growing up. Welcome to my OOL notice there is no P in it and I'd like to keep it that way.
- YeahSureWhyNot 8y agoi get red eyes even from my shower, unless there is pee in the water pouring from the shower head, I dont know what to say.
- deckar01 8y agoThe lack of salt in tap water is likely the cause of eye irritation and redness. The concentration of salt in tap water about 2% of human tears. The concentration in chlorinated pool water is closer to 30% of human tears. Perfectly clean and balanced pool water should be less of an irritant than tap water. https://www.aao.org/eye-health/ask-ophthalmologist-q/is-it-ok-to-wash-your-eyes-out-with-tap-water https://www.aao.org/eye-health/ask-ophthalmologist-q/is-it-o... https://blog.hayward-pool.com/maintenance/how-much-salt-do-you-add/ https://blog.hayward-pool.com/maintenance/how-much-salt-do-y...
- quickthrower2 8y agoIf a salt chlorinator is in use then yes salt will tend to be added.
- kowdermeister 8y agoMark Rober (glitter bomb) did a video on this. He also did a test on the "pool smell" if it really caused by pee reacting with chlorine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S32y9aYEzzo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S32y9aYEzzo
- justtopost 8y agoNot sure I can trust anything from that dude. He realy did a number on his credibility by not making the glitter bombs, faking the 'prank', and lying about it afterward after being presented with clear evidince of his deception, and his pre-existing knowledge of it. No thanks, people who sell their credibility for views deserve no respect.
- mchannon 8y agoThis article's full of problems. The first reason chloramine gets to be a problem is users don't shower before entering the pool. The amount of urine a swimmer can introduce into the water is small compared to the amount of urea coming off their unwashed body. Icelandic people religiously shower before entering their shared baths, and look on non-showering the way we might look at people not bothering to wiping their backside. And the other two big misconceptions are that time will take care of the problem (chlorine evaporates, amines don't) and that you can just dump in chlorine or other chemicals to get rid of the problem. It uses far less energy and wastes less water to simply dump and replace the pool water (chlorine tablets require ridiculous amounts of water and energy in their manufacture).
- angry_octet 8y agoPool shock (a spike in active chlorine) will react with amines and oxidise them -- saying they don't work is bizarre. It is painful to do manually though. A UV filtration system is far easier, but also far more expensive. Dumping water isn't practical as many places have water restrictions. Chlorine gas is produced in vast quantities industrially, then compounds like calcium chloride, sodium hypochlorite and sodium dichloroisocyanurate, which are used in both fresh water and waste water treatment. So when you dump your pool water you are still using chlorination, just at the municipal level.
- mchannon 8y ago"saying they don't work is bizarre"- that it doesn't work is pretty much exactly what the article says, and it's true, as long as "work" is defined as not turning your eyes red. Shock is useful for raising the total chlorine concentration in the pool, which is useful for discouraging bacteria, but it'll boil off in a day. If you have more amines to tie up chlorine than you add chlorine, bacteria and algae grow because the shock doesn't become "free chlorine". UV light removes chlorine from the pool, but similarly does little to remove amines. Dumping the water in a pool uses an equivalent amount of water to watering a similarly sized lawn over the course of as little as a few months. It's not free, but it distorts the overall scale of usage to bring up water restrictions. A fresh fill of pool water has no amines in it, and consumes very little chlorine at the municipal level (which boils off quickly). Just because something is "produced in vast quantities industrially" doesn't make it cheaper than water. It's not. Hypochlorite tablets and shock are, like aluminum, essentially solid electricity.
- ivanhoe 8y agoThey talk about dichloramine and trichloramine which are the products of chlorine reaction with ammonia, but also any amino acid - which means it can come as well from reactions with any part of our body it gets in contact with, like almost 2 sq. meters of our skin. How did they rule out all those other sources?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- anonytrary 8y agoI've always avoided swimming because of this. Other people, who may not wipe their bottoms properly, are getting into the same pool as you. Sometimes they pee (and they always excrete saliva) into the pool. It kind of grosses me out, and I've never really understood why it's not more taboo. In elementary school, I was never a fan of the game "bobbing for apples", because all of the other kids stick their mouths into the same bucket, and I had a basic conceptual understanding of germs and how they spread.
- hire_charts 8y agoOn the other hand, what better way to give your immune system a head start?
- anonytrary 8y agoNot washing your hands 20 times a day or profusely applying hand sanitizer is something to avoid. Doesn't mean you should be seeking out bacteria, though.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- vichu83 8y agoSuch a racist post. For a story from canada, they found a stock picture from India. Why do they relate a negative story with brown people?
- a_t48 8y agoIf they used a picture with all white people, would someone be accusing them of not being representative enough? Edit: Snark aside, in this case they probably just picked a random image off of Getty Images. As HN commenting guidelines say: "Assume good faith."
- vichu83 8y agoWhite privilege. Brown guys can't even report racism.
- a_t48 8y agoI have an even snarkier reply, but I'm going to drop it. You're barking up the wrong tree here, this is not really appropriate commenting behavior on Hacker News. I really recommend reading https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html - accusing a benign article about swimming pools of being racist and then disregarding my comments because of my race (and assuming my race) isn't really appropriate. If you disagree with my comment, reply to the contents of it, rather than my skin color.
- vichu83 8y agoI responded to the contents of the comment and the post. You sir, gave a condescending response that u are letting it slide. The mere assumption that brown people reporting racisim is wrong and that u let it slide shows your ignorance. If you are really you are right, we can take this in front of jury. Interested? I am 100% sure you ll complain if any picture online suggests sexism. Isn't that double standard? I posted that comment there to register this issue. I know this country is too busy fighting for white women rights and not care about racism across the board. When the climate changes, this will log will be brought up.
- tj-teej 8y agoI see a lot of comments in these threads regarding the old idea of a red cloud to indicate someone has peed in the pool. This idea never dies and I think I know where it started... When I was a lifeguard, we had to test the pH levels of the pool water every few hours. This entailed taking a sample of water, adding a few drops from a dropper and noting the shade of red the sample turned. We would tell the kids that we were checking that the "pee detector" was working. I really think this is what has fueled the notion that it's possible to turn pool water red to catch pool pee-ers. PS - I cannot recommend a summer job lifeguarding to anyone teenager, it was honestly one of the best jobs I ever had.
- jjeaff 8y agoI've always heard it was blue. And have seen movie scenes with blue as well.
- trumped 8y agowho doesn't want blue pool water?
- agrippanux 8y agoI think you mean "I can recommend a summer job lifeguarding" :) I also was a lifeguard all during high school, and if it was financially viable at this stage in my life I would do it again.
- tj-teej 8y agoYou are very correct! Unfortunately it's too late to edit now..
- jillesvangurp 8y agoI just came back from a swim. Accidentally swallowed a bit as well (it happens, never pleasant). I do use goggles to protect my eyes. Overall it's a good work out but the chlorine is definitely unpleasant. I've encountered a few pools in Denmark that use salt water rather than chlorine. Much more pleasant to swim in and seems to have the same effect of killing off bacteria. Seems like a nice alternative. Refreshing the water more often is probably costly but could work as well. The pool I go to is always very busy and I suspect they are cutting corners on refreshing the water regularly.
- angry_octet 8y ago'Salt water' pools are still using chlorine, just via a continuous process that maintains the right level of chlorine (splitting the salt: NaCl). Much easier to maintain. If the system has a super chlorination function (periodically gives a burst of increased chlorine, e.g. overnight) you don't have to shock the pool very often. Big municipal pools have continous chemistry monitoring so they can achieve the same effect with less electricity. They can also increase the flow rate when there are more people etc.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- bcaulfield 8y agoOh no. Oh no no no.
- elyobo 8y agoOff topic, so feel free to downvote, but I have a possibly related question that may find some answers here. I generally have a dry scalp, and dry skin around eye brows and beard. I started swimming about five months back and these drastically improved. I cracked a couple of ribs in a cycling accident and had to stop... the problems returned. Back swimming again now and they're gone again. The only info I can find online is of people complaining that pool swimming _causes_ dry scalp problems but I seem to be experiencing the opposite. Any reasons why this might be the case?
- vorpalhex 8y agoph?
- wfbarks 8y agoAlready knew this thanks to Mark Rober! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S32y9aYEzzo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S32y9aYEzzo
- bArray 8y agoWasn't the pool closed due to aids? Memes aside, it certainly shows how it's easy to draw an incorrect conclusion. It really makes me second guess how healthy swimming in a pool really is. Lots of people jumping in and out of the same water is an problem waiting to happen. As children we used to swim and kayak in the sea (to the point where we could no longer see the coast, which in hindsight was very dangerous). I wonder how being in the sea compares to a pool?
- jsilence 8y agoYour pools are still being sanitized with chlorine? The fact that the 'chlorine' smell stems from urine in the pool is news to you? This has been common knowledge for decades now and most of the public pools here in Germany have been retrofitted to O2 base sanitization to eliminate the chlorine. So all the authorities actually do about it is print a warning on paper? This is odd.
- black-tea 8y agoWhy "pee"? The word is urine.
- crusso 8y agoI'm not sold. We had a pool when I was growing up and since I was the youngest child, there was a several year stretch in high school where I was taking care of the chemicals in the pool and really the only person ever swimming in it. If the pool was looking a little green, I dumped some chlorine in and guess what, the increased chlorine created increased irritation to my eyes. And no, I wasn't the kind to pee in my own pool - not that the amount of pee I could generate would cause the requisite chlorine-pee interaction that makes the pool such an irritant.
- reilly3000 8y agoOur species has weathered all kinds of terrible waterborne communicable diseases since time began. It’s fair to say we wouldn’t cover the earth as we do without our sophisticated biome being adapted to all manner of disease from shared bathing.