Anybody use public swimming pools?

[Blue Vomit]

Friends had a pool growing up. They had a sign clearly posted "don't pee in our pool and we won't chit in your hat". I never quite understood that but I did think it was funny, and I never peed in their pool...I think you know why.

 

[begreen]

We were born into a bacterial stew and we will die in one too.

 

[firebroad]

I feel like I'm sitting in on a discussion in the old folks home. Bring me my applesauce.

Who says you aren't?

 

[Pallet Pete]

No, No and No!
I have this thang about public swimming pools...
Plus the chlorine turns my hair green...

O common Gamma you know we all want to see your hair green
It turns mine dark brown thats not as cool as green

Pete

 

[firefighterjake]

Did ya ever see a wad of chit floating by as you swim in a public pool?
I did...
The chit wigs me out more then the pee...and other various bodily fluids.

You sure that wasn't a Baby Ruth candy bar?

 

[firefighterjake]

I don't swim in public swimming pools . . . just because with my big ol' white belly exposed I'm afraid someone will mistake me for Moby Dick.

 

[Delta-T]

Sound advice from Sagan, we are all stardust.

hmmm, Carl said that too? I learnt it from Crosby Stills Nash and Young singin a Joanie Mitchel (i thinks she wrote it anywho) tune...Woodstock.
"we are stardust, we are golden, and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden"....something like that. Be afraid people....its not like we're all covered in lil tiny creapy crawlies...oh wait, we are

 

[firebroad]

You sure that wasn't a Baby Ruth candy bar?

Perhaps after it had already been eaten.

 

[Jack Straw]

"We are million year old carbon"- CSN and sometimes Young

 

[firebroad]

I am sure Dr. Sagan borrowed this from CSN&Y after enjoying the song while engaging in the odd recreational smoke. Loved that guy, miss his books and TV presentations.

 

[Weird tolkienish figure]

I am sure Dr. Sagan borrowed this from CSN&Y after enjoying the song while engaging in the odd recreational smoke. Loved that guy, miss his books and TV presentations.

Big Carl Sagan fan myself, despite disagreeing with him about some things. His "BS" detector is especially useful in debunking online cranks.

 

[ironpony]

only to pee in..........

 

[firebroad]

only to pee in..........

Best answer YET

 

[Dtunes]

Hot tubs are a stew pot. Low water volume, high bather numbers. Pools are a bit safer. It is not just pee, but there is deodorant, makeup, hair gel, dead skin, suntan lotion, and a few other things I won't mention. Floaters scare me more than pee. .

A properly chlorinated and balanced pool should pose little risk. Burning eyes or murky water is a sign that it is time to get out. Using pools in the morning is best after they have filtered all night.

+1. I was a life guard in highschool. Pools have a lot of water and are pretty easy to maintain w/ chlorine if you pay attention. It was basically impossible to keep the hot tub in spec. There is relatively little water in hot tubs so the chlorine/ph/etc would be all over the place regardless of how much effort you put into it.

Also a lot of people don't rinse off properly, or they go straight in the hot tub after working out to relax. They also sweat more in the hot water. Between swimming competitively growing up and being a LG I've spent a lot of time in public pools. They're not so bad if maintained properly. Aside from the understandable ickyness factor of pee in the pool, urine is generally sterile and not going to hurt anyone.

Some tips I learned over the years:

Don't go swimming after a baby/toddler swim class. They often have accidents, urine isn't a problem but other leaks are. Your supposed to shock a pool after any "accident" but some unscrupulous places don't want to close for the day or two required to shock the pool.

Stay away from public hot tubs, especially in hotels where no one enforces the pre-shower rules and other nastyness is more likely to occur.

The "chlorine smell" and stinging eyes aren't a result of chlorine, but the by products of chlorine reacting with nasty stuff. If a pool smells strongly of chlorine it's because it's dirty and the chlorine is reacting to microbes and other things that shouldn't be there. A properly maintained chlorine pool shouldn't have a very strong smell(some smell yes, but not that knock down smell of some public pools) or sting your eyes unless your very sensitive to chemicals.

 

[firebroad]

+1. I was a life guard in highschool. Pools have a lot of water and are pretty easy to maintain w/ chlorine if you pay attention. It was basically impossible to keep the hot tub in spec. There is relatively little water in hot tubs so the chlorine/ph/etc would be all over the place regardless of how much effort you put into it.

Also a lot of people don't rinse off properly, or they go straight in the hot tub after working out to relax. They also sweat more in the hot water. Between swimming competitively growing up and being a LG I've spent a lot of time in public pools. They're not so bad if maintained properly. Aside from the understandable ickyness factor of pee in the pool, urine is generally sterile and not going to hurt anyone.

Some tips I learned over the years:

Don't go swimming after a baby/toddler swim class. They often have accidents, urine isn't a problem but other leaks are. Your supposed to shock a pool after any "accident" but some unscrupulous places don't want to close for the day or two required to shock the pool.

Stay away from public hot tubs, especially in hotels where no one enforces the pre-shower rules and other nastyness is more likely to occur.

The "chlorine smell" and stinging eyes aren't a result of chlorine, but the by products of chlorine reacting with nasty stuff. If a pool smells strongly of chlorine it's because it's dirty and the chlorine is reacting to microbes and other things that shouldn't be there. A properly maintained chlorine pool shouldn't have a very strong smell(some smell yes, but not that knock down smell of some public pools) or sting your eyes unless your very sensitive to chemicals.

Dtunes, that was really informative. I think most of us here do object to the "ickyness factor" rather than any pathogens that might result. Most of us know that insulating ourselves from every little germ or bacterium is detrimental to our immune system, and attacking those same pathogens just helps produce the superbugs that are inevitable. That being said, I would rather swim in a pond full of bird and fish s**t, or an ocean where anything is dumped, rather than an isolated pool with crystal clear water that Junior just peed, defecated and snotted in.

Lunch, anyone?

 

[Jack Straw]

It's almost 3pm so it's time for supper, then the Lawrence Welk Show and off to bed at 8pm.

J.S. @ Shady Pines Assisted Living Center (aka God's waiting room)

 

[GAMMA RAY]

It's almost 3pm so it's time for supper, then the Lawrence Welk Show and off to bed at 8pm.

J.S. @ Shady Pines Assisted Living Center (aka God's waiting room)

If you ask the nurse aka; (Doll britches) nicely, maybe she will bring you a cookie after Lawrence Welk....

 

[firebroad]

o

If you ask the nurse aka; (Doll britches) nicely, maybe she will bring you a cookie after Lawrence Welk....

...or a Baby Ruth?

 

[GAMMA RAY]

I feel like I'm sitting in on a discussion in the old folks home. Bring me my applesauce.

I am not usually wigged out by germs and/or bodily fluids. It is just the public swimming pool/hot tub issue with me.
The way I look at it....
"We have an immune system for a reason....now let it do it's work dammit!"

 

[BrotherBart]

(Doll britches)

 

[Jack Straw]

If you ask the nurse aka; (Doll britches) nicely, maybe she will bring you a cookie after Lawrence Welk....

These are my nurses!!

 

[WES999]

Sometimes it is not the bodily fluids, its the bodies!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/30/massachusetts-dead-body-public-pool_n_888266.html

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Prolly git me in trouble wid some uptight reader, but hey, it appears within bounds, so . . .

 

[GAMMA RAY]

That's what happens when Iseedeadbtu guy goes to the pool....

 

[PA Fire Bug]

Thank you Dtunes for mentioning that urine is sterile. Unless you have a urinary tract infection, your urine is free of bacteria. It does, however, contain various toxins that I would want to drink. Our public pool is one of our favorite places to be in the summer. I don't usually think about the gross factor unless I see kids sucking in a lot of water. I enjoy the clear, chlorinated pool water much more than lake or ocean water.