Study: 1 In 5 Adults Uses Pool As Toilet

[OhioChick]

Officials: Swallowing Urine-Contaminated Water Isn't Harmful

POSTED: 9:22 pm EDT May 25, 2009

PHOENIX -- A new study by the Water Quality and Health Council found that nearly one in five adults admits to urinating in a swimming pool instead of using the toilet.

Eight in 10 adults are convinced their fellow swimmers are guilty of such a crime, the study said.

Nevertheless, health officials insist that swimming in and even swallowing urine-contaminated water isn't harmful to someone's health.

"Urine in itself has been purified through a whole variety of bodily processes so that it's removed a lot of the contaminants in it," said Don Herrington from the Arizona Health Department.

Swimmers should be more concerned about swallowing parasites than swallowing urine, officials said.

Last summer, dozens of swimmers in the Phoenix area got sick from pool water, forcing the closure of all 29 Phoenix city pools.

The parasite which caused the illnesses, Cryptosporidium, comes from diarrhea.

Phoenix Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Amy Blakeney urged sick swimmers to stay out of the pool.

"People who are sick need to stay home and remain at home for 14 days after they're symptom-free, especially if they have diarrhea," Blakeney said.

Though city pools electronically monitor chlorine levels, the city of Phoenix has begun to require swimmers to shower before they jump in the pool as an extra precaution.

"Taking a shower allows those materials to rinse off and go down as sewage, and then gets a clean body into the pool water, which is what we all want," Blakeney said.

http://www.newsnet5.com/health/19562405/detail.html

Adults? :wtf:

[Christa]

1. Eeeeuuuuuuwwwwww nt

[MercutioATC]

2. At least they're just urinating...

:)

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

18. ... except for the mention of diarrhea and parasites

And there's sort of a non-sequiter (sp?) to the story. The issues are urine and feces in the pool, so one solution is to shower before entering. Huh?

:hi:

[get the red out]

3. I am glad I quit going to pools

Started thinking of the possibilities of this several years ago and lost all desire to go to a pool.

[Frank Cannon]

57. Same here

This article made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

[corpseratemedia]

4. adults??

x( :puke:

[marmar]

5. Ick.....

..... I can honestly say I've never pissed in the pool, even as a kid.

[cboy4]

60. The people who say they never peed in the pool as a three

year old are the same ones who claim they've never masturbated.

LOL

[peekaloo]

6. "We don't swim in your toilet, so don't pee in our pool".

Years ago that sign was posted at our town's pool.

I never swam there.

[ecstatic]

7. And here I thought adult pools (like at the gym) were safe

:eyes: That's why I pretty much avoid pools.

[Rebubula]

8. LOLZ

OK...I have never peed in the pool....BUT, I have stood MANY times trying to keep still in the pounding surf of the ocean to pee while at the beach. The beach bathrooms are just too far to trudge.

The ocean is filled with whale and shark urine..mine mixes in just fine.

[Fumesucker]

9. I maintained a community pool back in the early eighties..

The course I took to get the license said to assume that everyone urinates in the pool.

However, unless the person is ill, urine is basically sterile.

Six ounces of urine in ten thousand gallons of water is pretty dilute, and besides, if you swim in a natural body of water fish are urinating and defecating in it too.

Interesting little known factoid, full strength human urine was used as a teeth whitening agent in the ancient world.

Edited for speling.

[ConcernedCanuk]

47. LOL - - "Edited for speling"

.
.

that's a joke, right?

:silly:

[Fumesucker]

56. Yes, I always rite it that way ;) n/t

[cboy4]

59. Someone just indirectly admitted he pisses in the pool

LOL

[seabeyond]

10. i think i will NOT share with boys. taking them to pool after school. one son an

obsessive compulsive hypochondriac, lol lol. there are just many things he does not need to know, or pretend he doesn't know. lol

[Obamanaut]

11. Odd that the city of Phoenix has begun to require swimmers to

shower. "...has begun..." Community pools in Florida had this requirement in the 50's when I was a teenager.

[seabeyond]

13. i was born in phoenix in 60's. mom a lifeguard. spent all our time at the pool. ALWAYS

had to shower.

so from where i sit, nothing new

personally, i always thought it stupid. was competitive swimmer for two decades and none of us jumped in shower before race or practice

[Horse with no Name]

50. I was born in Phoenix in the 60's too

and always had to shower as a kid before we went swimming.:shrug:

[midnight]

35. I learned to swim in Maryville pool in phoenix. We always had

to shower.

[Obamanaut]

36. It was not my choice of words, I did not write the article. The article

stated
<snip>
"Though city pools electronically monitor chlorine levels, the city of Phoenix has begun to require swimmers to shower before they jump in the pool as an extra precaution.

"Taking a shower allows those materials to rinse off and go down as sewage, and then gets a clean body into the pool water, which is what we all want," Blakeney said."<end snip>

"...has begun..." The wording in the article suggests that until recently no showers were required.

[H2O Man]

12. Okay.

Just stay the fuck away from my pool, the 20% of you who do.

[cherish44]

14. That's just one of those things that everyone knows goes on but do we have to hear about it?

It's kind of like hearing about your parents having sex...Anyway I'd rather have someone piss in the pool than piss on my towel or something.

[Forkboy]

15. It's a starter course for golden shower beginners.

:hide:

[BlueJazz]

16. AAAGGGHH!

[no_hypocrisy]

17. They probably do it partially with the assumption all that chlorine will kill the bacteria, germs,

impurities, etc.

I'm surprised there hasn't been a cholera outbreak somewhere.

[Arugula Latte]

25. Not that this justifies people peeing in the pool (ewww!) but urine is virtually sterile, right?

Still, x(

[no_hypocrisy]

28. Not necessarily. Impurities show up. Ask any urologist or lab tech.

Blood, white cells, yeast, bacteria.

[Deja Q]

37. Do they even think at all?

You know, just let 'er rip and let 'er be quick...

[SidDithers]

19. Just like the non-smoking section of a restaurant...

I only swim in the non-peeing section of a pool.

Sid

[BlooInBloo]

20. Best pool sign: "This is our ool. Notice there is no P in it. Please keep it that way."

[LanternWaste]

21. A good reason to avoind public pools...

But the lakes I go to on the weekends to relax are probably just as bad if not worse. For having one of the cleanest national infrastructures in the world (all other things being equal), we certainly are a rather unhygienic people.

As my grandad was fond of saying, "you wonder who has class and who doesn't? It's simple-- do they wash their hands after going to the bathroom..."

[slackmaster]

22. I haven't been in a public swimming pool in about 20 years and don't plan to ever use one again

Because of that and other reasons.

[raccoon]

64. Me either. nt

[HughBeaumont]

23. I don't swim in pools or Lake Erie.

Not ever since my dad told me about "fecal matter" and that same year I ran into a nice loaded diaper while swimming.

Eeeech, I feel like power vomiting just thinking about it.

People are all weird about baths, saying they "don't want to soak in their own filth". I'd rather do that a billion times before swimming in a public bathroom filled with first grader, and apparently grown adult, urine.

[OhioChick]

24. I swim in Lake Erie...

:hide:

Although, I go out to Vermilion to a private beach.

Remember years ago when hypodermic needles from the Cleveland Clinic were washing ashore at Edgewater beach? (I believe it came out that it was the Clinic that was responsible)

[HughBeaumont]

39. I lived in Vermilion for 20 years.

Sometimes we'd sneak down to Linwood beach and go on that one. You could still smell the lake from 500 feet away quite often. It was horrible.

[Arugula Latte]

27. My grandparents had property on Lake Erie

I was a child in the late 60s/70s (the height of the lake's pollution) and I recall thinking that dead fish must routinely wash up on the shores of lakes.

We certainly found interesting things on that beach, I'll say that. :scared:

[book_worm]

26. disgusting.

[Ezlivin]

29. So what do those adults use the toilet as?

Reciprocity can suck.

[dana_b]

33. dog or cat water bowl

lazy bastards

[konnichi wa]

75. Well, you've heard of bourbon & branch water...

:silly:
:rofl:

[TahitiNut]

30. Sounds like a scene from 'Caddyshack.'

:shrug:

[Blue_Tires]

66. YES!

:rofl:

"It's no big deal!"

[dana_b]

31. Adults? indeed

some people need to grow up. They're too damn lazy to get their butts out of the pool to go to the toilet. ick

[Akoto]

32. That must have been an awkward study to request funding for ...

"Hey, we need some study funding. We'd like to see how many people piss in pools."

"Yeah, okay. I guess cancer can wait."

[progressoid]

43. And an awkward questionnaire to answer.

Wonder how many people told the truth? :eyes:

[azmouse]

34. Thank gawd I don't have to use public pools.

I would no more pee in my own pool than I would swim in my toilet. Many people here (including me) have homes that have a bathroom with a door leading directly to the outside. We don't even need to walk through the house to use the toilet. It's pretty cool when you're outside and really need to go.

I won't even go in a friend's pool because they allow their dogs in the pool. I find that disgusting.

[konnichi wa]

38. I'm sure glad nothing pees in the ocean!

:silly:

[TahitiNut]

53. Good reason to not drink water. Fish pee in it.

:dunce:

[lib2DaBone]

40. I lived in an apartment complex one time... with a pool...

It was so bad in the summertime when the kids were out of school... the urine would make the filter pumps sieze up and rust the stailess steel railings off the steps.

I quit using the pool when I saw the repairman had roped off the pump house...

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. Well given that in an emergency, aka you are stranded in the desert

you CAN AND SHOULD drink it... yes it is pure and free of bacteria unless there is a urinary tract infection and those are are not that common

So yes... it is disgusting but not unsafe.

And yes, check any decent survival manual on that

[chaska]

42. Jesus Christ, don't we have a lot to worry about....

A half cup of pee (which is sterile, let us not forget) in how many thousands of gallons of ridiculously over-chlorinated water? The chlorine is much worse for you than pee could ever be.

[hfojvt]

51. actually if you figure there are 200 people in a pool on an average day

then apparently about 40 of them are urinating. That's getting close to a two liter bottle of pee. Per day. More if you figure the average is 2 of 5 or 3 of 5 for kids.

Edit, but that's probably way high, since the survey does not distinguish between an adult who has done it once and an adult who does it regularly or several times.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

44. That's just so wrong

if any of you adults out there reading this piss in the pool, please stop it right the fuck now.

Even my kids get out of the water and run for the bathroom. Jeesh...

The part I love is people shitting in the pool... diarrhea????? If any of you have diarrhea, please stay out of the pool too.

For those who think it is just too much work to get out of the pool to use the toilet ... save up your money and dig yourself your own pool/toilet and swim around in your own piss and diarrhea.

[progressoid]

45. Small Town's 'Cryptosporidium Daze' Fails To Attract Visitors

Small Town's 'Cryptosporidium Daze' Fails To Attract Visitors

BLAKELY, GA—Blakely civic leaders were baffled last weekend as Cryptosporidium Daze, their elaborately planned summer festival celebrating the popular waterborne pathogen, failed to draw tourists to the Southwest Georgia town.

...

It's a real mystery," Lyons said. "It was a nice, sunny day, the park was filled with booths, and somebody was out there in the big foam cryptosporidium mascot outfit shaking hands with everybody. Yet, somehow, the festival flopped."

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39498



Jeremy Luchs, 9, wears the T-shirt he won as the sole youth participant in the Protozoan Parade

[onenote]

46. next study: 4 out of five adults lie about whether they pee in the pool

j/k

[Jennicut]

48. Gross. And I have to be in little kid pools with my 3 and 4 year olds this summer.

Maybe we will just skip vacation. Yuck.

[Lorien]

49. Yuck! I can remember swimming in a crowded public pool as a kid

and every once in a while you'd swim through a warm patch of water. Yech!

[RB TexLa]

52. And what exactly do you suppose we do about all the birds who use them as toilets

after we get those 1 in 5 adults and however many children?

[proteus_lives]

54. Great, another phobia.

I already disliked public pools but now....it's all I see! :puke:

[Hannah Bell]

55. they admit to doing it = they did it at least once - not every time they use the pool.

i seriously doubt 20% of adults in your average pool are peeing in it at any given time.

[underpants]

58. Kimmel: Do you pee in the pool? Phelps: We all do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPhd_AIbuTk

[hootinholler]

61. Welcome to our OOL, Notice there's no P in it!

That's the sign at the top of the submarine escape training tower in New London Conn.

-Hoot

[Atman]

62. 1 in 4 respondents to this thread...

...were going to post "4 in 5 Adult Pool Users Lie," but someone beat them to it.

.

[riverdeep]

63. It's about dilution.

Don't go into the medium-sized community pool filled to the brim with little kids, it's going to be mostly urine (j/k, I think). However, the large olympic sized pool that makes people shower first (I thought every pool did this?) that has only a few people in it at any given time should be just fine. Swimming is one of the great pleasures in life, so what's a little urine? Now, about those hot dogs you've been eating...

[undeterred]

65. 100% of fish report using fresh or saltwater lakes as a toilet.

and not just for #1 :hurts:

[Blue_Tires]

67. i'll take my chances at the local pool

which usually isn't that crowded...but never again will i do the water theme parks and their 1000-person wave pool :puke:

and despite the headline, many lakes, rivers, or beaches are not that much better, and some are a lot worse -- especially the ones with a huge goose/duck population, or one downstream from a big farm or group of farms...

[rug]

68. Beware the warm spots.

[truth2power]

69. My neighbor has a pool just for her dog to swim in ..dog had hip surgery

and needs to keep muscles toned.

The dog gets OUT of the pool to pee. Then goes back in to swim. I've seen this. It's hysterical.

I would never pee in a swimming pool. If someone is too lazy to go use the restroom they shouldn't be swimming in the first place. Just MHO.

[AngryAmish]

70. DOODIE!

[shadowknows69]

71. Stuff like this is why the aliens haven't come to save us yet

Would you go out of your way to rescue a bunch of sewer rats?

[DS1]

72. In other words, we know you piss in the pool, so stop doing it you nasty fuckwads

Why does the article go from 1 out of 5 to 8 out of ten?

1/5 of you do it, 4/5 of us know it

[Harry Monroe]

73. "And in related news, 1 in 5 adults are just lazy assholes"

[MattBaggins]

74. How many folks use their toilet as a pool?

That's what I want to know.

[callous taoboy]

76. When I went to boys camp the counselors would always tell us

that they had treated the pool water with a chemical that made pee turn red. We weren't sure about this, but nobody wanted to test it out.