The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it.
March 1, 2017 8:44 AM Subscribe
How much pee is in our swimming pools? A new urine test reveals the truth. Perhaps that's not your biggest worry, however, because in addition to pee, the next pool you dive into will probably contain a wee bit of fecal matter, a dollop of human sweat and some guy’s skin cells floating around. But if you're into that sort of thing, pop on over to the Experience Project and read about the folks who admit
they always pee in the swimming pool.
Ugh, this destroys my ability to enjoy the hot tub at the gym. I can handle the idea that people will pee in a big pool, but the fact that they'll do it in a little tiny hot tub is more than I can handle.
posted by skewed at 8:50 AM on March 1, 2017
posted by skewed at 8:50 AM on March 1, 2017
Thanks for giving me a reason to turn the kids down on the inevitable "can we go swimming today?" request this weekend.
posted by nubs at 8:51 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by nubs at 8:51 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
In 2014 we stayed at the Disney World resort called Art of Animation, which boasts their biggest pool. It has like five lifeguards at all times, and we saw it closed down probably every damn day of our stay. It was practically gelatinous with urine. When they close a pool for contamination by a swimmer, they refer to it as a "Biological." Ugh.
posted by wenestvedt at 8:51 AM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 8:51 AM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]
I read an interview with Truman Capote someplace where he was describing on of those resorts where you can lounge below ground and watch the people swimming through a large plexiglass window.
According to him, it is easy to see when swimmers wee.
posted by BWA at 8:54 AM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]
According to him, it is easy to see when swimmers wee.
posted by BWA at 8:54 AM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]
Contrary to the warning many children are given – that a coloured cloud will appear around them if they pee – there is currently no urine indicator dye that could be used in a pool.
It is embarrassing how recently I learned this.
posted by redsparkler at 9:05 AM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
It is embarrassing how recently I learned this.
posted by redsparkler at 9:05 AM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
When I was a kid (1970s) and backyard above-ground pools were big, everyone would claim that their pool had some sort of chemical in it that would turn the water red if someone was peeing. This chemical was, of course, an urban legend but I wonder if it deterred people from peeing in the pool. I know i never peed in one.
Edit: redsparkler beat me to it!
posted by bondcliff at 9:06 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Edit: redsparkler beat me to it!
posted by bondcliff at 9:06 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Red dye, bondcliff? Everyone knows it was PURPLE!
posted by redsparkler at 9:08 AM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by redsparkler at 9:08 AM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
But what percentage of the air in the weight room is farts?
posted by Matt Oneiros at 9:09 AM on March 1, 2017 [14 favorites]
posted by Matt Oneiros at 9:09 AM on March 1, 2017 [14 favorites]
All of my water activities are in lakes and rivers... thousands of waterfowl pooping, fish pooping (do fish pee?), muskrats pooping and peeing, my neighbors dog's stuff being washed into the lake, frogs, fish, other stuff that dies and decomposes and rots in the lake, dead plants, dead insects, need I say more? A bit of pee in a pool pales in comparison!
posted by HuronBob at 9:09 AM on March 1, 2017 [13 favorites]
posted by HuronBob at 9:09 AM on March 1, 2017 [13 favorites]
"Biological" is still slightly less awful than "Code Brown".
Big mass-use pools are additionally super-goopy with sunscreen, and there's always that one parent who doesn't bring a swim diaper (which is only meant to contain feces anyway) and tries putting a kid in there with regular gel-absorbent diapers. Then there's the hair product and dry skin and foot gunk and other stuff, at least in the US, where there's basically zero pre-swim-shower culture (outside sport swimming) AND no bidet culture, so everybody's ass is dirty when they get in the pool.
I have spent the past 6 months battling a mysterious fine brown grit, in my pool. It's been on everything outside - the furniture, the leaves of my plants, and ringing the bottom of the pool (which is an in-ground spa, and on the large side for a spa but not big enough to have a bottom-crawler vacuum so we have to get at it with a manual stick vacuum). Pool guy finally decided it was ash blowing in from all the fires this summer and said all his customers in the valley had it, and I asked if that wasn't chemically problematic, and he was like welllll, honestly, it's Los Angeles, you got all kinds of less-desirable stuff blowing/falling in there out of the air. Shock it real good now and then. Use one of those surface sponges that suck up sunscreen and stuff if you really want.
I had not, until then, considered how much of the world was in my pool water.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:10 AM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]
Big mass-use pools are additionally super-goopy with sunscreen, and there's always that one parent who doesn't bring a swim diaper (which is only meant to contain feces anyway) and tries putting a kid in there with regular gel-absorbent diapers. Then there's the hair product and dry skin and foot gunk and other stuff, at least in the US, where there's basically zero pre-swim-shower culture (outside sport swimming) AND no bidet culture, so everybody's ass is dirty when they get in the pool.
I have spent the past 6 months battling a mysterious fine brown grit, in my pool. It's been on everything outside - the furniture, the leaves of my plants, and ringing the bottom of the pool (which is an in-ground spa, and on the large side for a spa but not big enough to have a bottom-crawler vacuum so we have to get at it with a manual stick vacuum). Pool guy finally decided it was ash blowing in from all the fires this summer and said all his customers in the valley had it, and I asked if that wasn't chemically problematic, and he was like welllll, honestly, it's Los Angeles, you got all kinds of less-desirable stuff blowing/falling in there out of the air. Shock it real good now and then. Use one of those surface sponges that suck up sunscreen and stuff if you really want.
I had not, until then, considered how much of the world was in my pool water.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:10 AM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]
The use of artificial sweeteners as a telltale for human urine is interesting from a chemistry perspective (I guess it must be resistant to chlorine oxidation), although I'm not really sure that it's a big deal.
A well chlorinated pool or hot tub will contain enough oxidizer to react with the urine / skin cells / fecal matter / leaf bits / dead spiders / whatever that fall into the pool and aren't trapped mechanically by the filters. The guidelines on pool chlorination are designed for this specific purpose.
It's also been known at least since the 60s (based just on the age of some of the books I've read) that cyanogen chloride and some chloramines, which are produced when free chlorine reacts with various contaminants, aren't exactly healthy or pleasant to be around. Chloramines in particular are eye irritants and, at least to some people, respiratory irritants. You have to be particularly careful managing them in indoor pools.
A decent pool test kit will allow you to discriminate between the amount of "free chlorine" and "combined chlorine" in the water, and when the "combined chlorine" level gets measurably high, then you'll want to do something about it. The traditional solution is superchlorination, which basically adds so much free chlorine to the pool that it breaks apart the combined chlorine compounds. Most pool books are very handwavey on the underlying chemistry, and there's some evidence that the guidelines actually recommend far too much chlorine than is necessary for the reaction to take place, but it's not complicated from an operational standpoint. The highschool kids lifeguarding at your local pool probably do it a few times a week.
There are non-chlorine oxidizers (MPS) available now, which don't produce chloramines and are equally capable of breaking down organics, but you still have to use them with a certain amount of chlorine to prevent disease transmission in the water. They're for "shock" purposes rather than day-to-day sanitation. Still, pretty interesting.
It was practically gelatinous with urine.
Probably not; it was probably full of salt and calcium oxides, though. Heavily used pool water will develop a certain feel to it as the levels of salts build up. It's hard to describe, but I'd use the word slippery, almost. Some people actually find this desirable and there are bottled additives you can buy for hot tubs to do this on purpose. I don't really like the feeling myself, but to each their own, I suppose.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:10 AM on March 1, 2017 [14 favorites]
A well chlorinated pool or hot tub will contain enough oxidizer to react with the urine / skin cells / fecal matter / leaf bits / dead spiders / whatever that fall into the pool and aren't trapped mechanically by the filters. The guidelines on pool chlorination are designed for this specific purpose.
It's also been known at least since the 60s (based just on the age of some of the books I've read) that cyanogen chloride and some chloramines, which are produced when free chlorine reacts with various contaminants, aren't exactly healthy or pleasant to be around. Chloramines in particular are eye irritants and, at least to some people, respiratory irritants. You have to be particularly careful managing them in indoor pools.
A decent pool test kit will allow you to discriminate between the amount of "free chlorine" and "combined chlorine" in the water, and when the "combined chlorine" level gets measurably high, then you'll want to do something about it. The traditional solution is superchlorination, which basically adds so much free chlorine to the pool that it breaks apart the combined chlorine compounds. Most pool books are very handwavey on the underlying chemistry, and there's some evidence that the guidelines actually recommend far too much chlorine than is necessary for the reaction to take place, but it's not complicated from an operational standpoint. The highschool kids lifeguarding at your local pool probably do it a few times a week.
There are non-chlorine oxidizers (MPS) available now, which don't produce chloramines and are equally capable of breaking down organics, but you still have to use them with a certain amount of chlorine to prevent disease transmission in the water. They're for "shock" purposes rather than day-to-day sanitation. Still, pretty interesting.
It was practically gelatinous with urine.
Probably not; it was probably full of salt and calcium oxides, though. Heavily used pool water will develop a certain feel to it as the levels of salts build up. It's hard to describe, but I'd use the word slippery, almost. Some people actually find this desirable and there are bottled additives you can buy for hot tubs to do this on purpose. I don't really like the feeling myself, but to each their own, I suppose.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:10 AM on March 1, 2017 [14 favorites]
Meh...every breath you take and every piece of food you eat contains some non-zero amount of sweat, skin, urine, and fecal matter. It's only disgusting if you allow it to be.
posted by rocket88 at 9:13 AM on March 1, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by rocket88 at 9:13 AM on March 1, 2017 [9 favorites]
When I was a lifeguard a red cloud did once appear around a swimmer and as we worked to clear the pool a mother refused to get her kids out of the pool (even telling them to ignore us) because "they're just using that dye. It's just pee". Well WE were THEY and no we weren't because it doesn't exist. Please listen to lifeguards when they give you a reasonable command. There's a fairly good chance they're trying to keep you or someone else safe.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 9:14 AM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 9:14 AM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
It became a running joke during our vacation last December for me to insist to my son that I was peeing constantly. We'd saddle up to the pool at the bar and I'd remark how relaxing it was to be able to pee and order a drink at the same time. By the end of the trip, I'd so traumatized him that he would make it a point to go to the bathroom on a regular schedule, just to avoid "making it worse." Even after he realized I was kidding, he kept the habit, so at least one kid isn't part of the problem.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:15 AM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:15 AM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
MetaFilter: It's only disgusting if you allow it to be.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:15 AM on March 1, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:15 AM on March 1, 2017 [12 favorites]
If you feel the urge to pee while in a pool, there may be a physiological reason behind it.
posted by TedW at 9:17 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by TedW at 9:17 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Folks, you're going to hate learning what fish do in the ocean.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:19 AM on March 1, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:19 AM on March 1, 2017 [8 favorites]
The UL/probable deliberately-mongered rumor when I was a kid was that lifeguards' sunglasses had a special polarized filter that let them see when swimmers urinated. I found it plausible because of the vivid description of the visual effect that my friend (who, of course, claimed to have seen it first hand) gave: like green yarn coming out of the swimmer's crotch. (It didn't occur to me that it would have dissipated in the pool water almost instantly.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:26 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:26 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
WELCOME TO OUR OOL
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 9:29 AM on March 1, 2017 [14 favorites]
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 9:29 AM on March 1, 2017 [14 favorites]
The people at the Experience Project link mostly seem like fetishists spinning yarns.
posted by Selena777 at 9:30 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Selena777 at 9:30 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Spinning green yarns from their crotches.
posted by Drastic at 9:36 AM on March 1, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by Drastic at 9:36 AM on March 1, 2017 [7 favorites]
This is why we have an immune system. FFS, scary bacteria and germs are teh everywherezz!
posted by jeff-o-matic at 9:40 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by jeff-o-matic at 9:40 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
WELCOME TO OUR OOL
As a matter of fact, I do swim in your toilet.
posted by bondcliff at 9:42 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
As a matter of fact, I do swim in your toilet.
posted by bondcliff at 9:42 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Raw chicken will kill everyone you have ever loved, everyone you have ever known.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 9:43 AM on March 1, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by jeff-o-matic at 9:43 AM on March 1, 2017 [7 favorites]
See also, the relevant onion article: CDC Horrified After Discovering Existence Of Thousands Of Public Pools
posted by scodger at 9:48 AM on March 1, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by scodger at 9:48 AM on March 1, 2017 [12 favorites]
WELCOME TO OUR _ _ _ L
NOTICE THERE IS NO P OR POO IN POOL?
WELL, IT'S NOT REFLECTIVE OF REALITY AS THERE ARE ALMOST CERTAINLY TRACE ELEMENTS OF BOTH, ALONG WITH A TON OF OTHER DISGUSTING BODILY DETRITUS.
JUST TRY TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH CLOSED, I GUESS.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:53 AM on March 1, 2017 [14 favorites]
NOTICE THERE IS NO P OR POO IN POOL?
WELL, IT'S NOT REFLECTIVE OF REALITY AS THERE ARE ALMOST CERTAINLY TRACE ELEMENTS OF BOTH, ALONG WITH A TON OF OTHER DISGUSTING BODILY DETRITUS.
JUST TRY TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH CLOSED, I GUESS.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:53 AM on March 1, 2017 [14 favorites]
Between human waste, snapping turtles, and great white sharks, my only form of water recreation will continue to be a hot shower.
posted by BlueHorse at 9:58 AM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by BlueHorse at 9:58 AM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]
This is why we have an immune system. FFS, scary bacteria and germs are teh everywherezz!
Why do people always do this in threads like this? We're all aware that we have immune systems and can handle bacteria. Doesn't mean I want someone to take a dump in the middle of my dining room table while I'm eating a pot roast.
We're allowed to just find gross things gross sometimes.
And what's the cut-off point for urine in a pool to be gross? One person peeing in an Olympic pool? Probably not gross. 100 people peeing in it? Can that be gross? Eventually you're swimming in 100% urine. That's kinda gross.
posted by bondcliff at 10:05 AM on March 1, 2017 [9 favorites]
Why do people always do this in threads like this? We're all aware that we have immune systems and can handle bacteria. Doesn't mean I want someone to take a dump in the middle of my dining room table while I'm eating a pot roast.
We're allowed to just find gross things gross sometimes.
And what's the cut-off point for urine in a pool to be gross? One person peeing in an Olympic pool? Probably not gross. 100 people peeing in it? Can that be gross? Eventually you're swimming in 100% urine. That's kinda gross.
posted by bondcliff at 10:05 AM on March 1, 2017 [9 favorites]
Why do people always do this in threads like this?
Because we (well most of us) have an immune system and this kind of icky-fear is as silly as fear of a Boogeyman.
I am not a doctor, but I'd bet 100 dollars that you or I could swim in a warm pool of pure human urine and live to tell the tale.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 10:12 AM on March 1, 2017 [4 favorites]
Because we (well most of us) have an immune system and this kind of icky-fear is as silly as fear of a Boogeyman.
I am not a doctor, but I'd bet 100 dollars that you or I could swim in a warm pool of pure human urine and live to tell the tale.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 10:12 AM on March 1, 2017 [4 favorites]
After the first second of urination, which flushes bacteria out of the urethra, urine is absolutely sterile. That's why it was used during the Civil War to flush out wounds, especially in prison camps such as Andersonville that were cesspits of sewage and disease. Come back tomorrow, when we talk about the use of maggots to debride wounds of gangrenous flesh.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:17 AM on March 1, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:17 AM on March 1, 2017 [4 favorites]
When I was a kid (1970s) and backyard above-ground pools were big, everyone would claim that their pool had some sort of chemical in it that would turn the water red if someone was peeing. This chemical was, of course, an urban legend but I wonder if it deterred people from peeing in the pool. I know i never peed in one.
You should've sat them down with the lie detector, that would've sorted things out.
posted by indubitable at 10:26 AM on March 1, 2017
You should've sat them down with the lie detector, that would've sorted things out.
posted by indubitable at 10:26 AM on March 1, 2017
I just got out of the pool and I made my way to work and I fired up Metafilter and THANKS A LOT
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:30 AM on March 1, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:30 AM on March 1, 2017 [6 favorites]
Oh my god it was FIVE years ago and I said I was very sorry TWICE please let this GO
It's ok I'm no longer upset because someone just showed me the Wikipedia article about the immune system.
posted by bondcliff at 10:33 AM on March 1, 2017 [13 favorites]
It's ok I'm no longer upset because someone just showed me the Wikipedia article about the immune system.
posted by bondcliff at 10:33 AM on March 1, 2017 [13 favorites]
It is embarrassing how recently I learned this.
posted by redsparkler at 12:05 PM on March 1 [2 favorites +] [!]
Imagine how I feel, I just learned it from you.
posted by pickinganameismuchharderthanihadanticipated at 10:34 AM on March 1, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by redsparkler at 12:05 PM on March 1 [2 favorites +] [!]
Imagine how I feel, I just learned it from you.
posted by pickinganameismuchharderthanihadanticipated at 10:34 AM on March 1, 2017 [6 favorites]
Some people find this kind of information gross. Others don't. We contain multitudes.
I drank unfiltered tap water in SF and didn't start to transition or get unexpected erections or develop an opioid addiction, despite all the crap in it. I concur with J-o-M that there is little to no rational reason to avoid swimming pools based on this not-so-new information, but we are not always rational creatures.
And seriously, oceans and lakes have waaaaaay more poop in them.
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:35 AM on March 1, 2017
I drank unfiltered tap water in SF and didn't start to transition or get unexpected erections or develop an opioid addiction, despite all the crap in it. I concur with J-o-M that there is little to no rational reason to avoid swimming pools based on this not-so-new information, but we are not always rational creatures.
And seriously, oceans and lakes have waaaaaay more poop in them.
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:35 AM on March 1, 2017
Folks, you're going to hate learning what fish do in the ocean.
"Water? I never touch the stuff - fish fuck in it." -- W. C. Fields
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:37 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
"Water? I never touch the stuff - fish fuck in it." -- W. C. Fields
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:37 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
maggot debriding
I'm not going to be able to listen to that "Here Comes th'Bride" song the same way ever again.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:42 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm not going to be able to listen to that "Here Comes th'Bride" song the same way ever again.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:42 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
I drank unfiltered tap water in Lima Peru, Mexico City, and Guatemala City.
Lived to tell the tale.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 10:42 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Lived to tell the tale.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 10:42 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
you freaking snowflakes have better water and sanitation than the 99.99999% of human history, yet we are all still here.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 10:45 AM on March 1, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by jeff-o-matic at 10:45 AM on March 1, 2017 [8 favorites]
How much pee is in our swimming pools? A new urine test reveals the truth. Perhaps that's not your biggest worry, however, because in addition to pee, the next pool you dive into will probably contain a wee bit of fecal matter, a dollop of human sweat and some guy’s skin cells floating around.
I would imagine a candiru or two in the pool would also cut down on the urge.
I drank unfiltered tap water in Lima Peru, Mexico City, and Guatemala City.
Twenty-five years ago I was in Egypt, where I was sheltering my western gut against the local tap water by assiduously sticking to bottled water. After three weeks or so, I realized I was of course brushing my teeth every day with tap water to no ill effect.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:57 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
I would imagine a candiru or two in the pool would also cut down on the urge.
I drank unfiltered tap water in Lima Peru, Mexico City, and Guatemala City.
Twenty-five years ago I was in Egypt, where I was sheltering my western gut against the local tap water by assiduously sticking to bottled water. After three weeks or so, I realized I was of course brushing my teeth every day with tap water to no ill effect.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:57 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
you freaking snowflakes have better water and sanitation than the 99.99999% of human history, yet we are all still here
Geez, who didn't piss in your corn flakes?
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:58 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Geez, who didn't piss in your corn flakes?
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:58 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Geez, who didn't piss in your corn flakes?
You don't eat your corn flakes with pee? They stay crispy longer.
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:01 AM on March 1, 2017
Seriously weird how many people on the Experience link are saying peeing in the pool turns them on. Does kind of feel like any Internet pee question in general is gonna get fetishist clicks.
Count me in as well for rolling my eyes at the folks who have to act like anything a human feels is gross is because they're a precious snowflake germaphobe. Yes, you're so much more evolved. Whatever.
posted by agregoli at 11:04 AM on March 1, 2017
Count me in as well for rolling my eyes at the folks who have to act like anything a human feels is gross is because they're a precious snowflake germaphobe. Yes, you're so much more evolved. Whatever.
posted by agregoli at 11:04 AM on March 1, 2017
If you feel the urge to pee while in a pool, there may be a physiological reason behind it.
Oddly, this was my big objection to the Lady-Gave-Her-Tinder-Date-A-Bath post the other day. I can't be in the bath for 30 minutes without having to get out and pee. Seems it would have wrecked the mood, but maybe not everyone has to do that?
posted by mochapickle at 11:04 AM on March 1, 2017
Oddly, this was my big objection to the Lady-Gave-Her-Tinder-Date-A-Bath post the other day. I can't be in the bath for 30 minutes without having to get out and pee. Seems it would have wrecked the mood, but maybe not everyone has to do that?
posted by mochapickle at 11:04 AM on March 1, 2017
you freaking snowflakes have better water and sanitation than the 99.99999% of human history, yet we are all still here.
Jeez, can't even come into this thread to take the piss on the topic of pool sanita-
Nevermind, I think I see my mistake.
posted by nubs at 11:06 AM on March 1, 2017
Jeez, can't even come into this thread to take the piss on the topic of pool sanita-
Nevermind, I think I see my mistake.
posted by nubs at 11:06 AM on March 1, 2017
And what's the cut-off point for urine in a pool to be gross? One person peeing in an Olympic pool? Probably not gross. 100 people peeing in it? Can that be gross? Eventually you're swimming in 100% urine. That's kinda gross.
There was a South Park episode about this. The kids were at a water park at the moment of the exact tipping point. It was as gross as you would expect.
posted by mochapickle at 11:07 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
There was a South Park episode about this. The kids were at a water park at the moment of the exact tipping point. It was as gross as you would expect.
posted by mochapickle at 11:07 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm pretty sure I could also survive swimming in urine. But that does raise the question: What are we allowed to find gross? Just the things that objectively carry some risk of contamination?
This sounds like it's already the basis of a terrible game show or five.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 11:18 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
This sounds like it's already the basis of a terrible game show or five.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 11:18 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
When [Disney] close[s] a pool for contamination by a swimmer, they refer to it as a "Biological." Ugh.
If you can get a Disney cast member off the record, you can find out some pretty nasty stuff about what gets dumped into various water features in the parks. Disney will deny it happens because, of course, it's Disney.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:27 AM on March 1, 2017
If you can get a Disney cast member off the record, you can find out some pretty nasty stuff about what gets dumped into various water features in the parks. Disney will deny it happens because, of course, it's Disney.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:27 AM on March 1, 2017
mochapickle: I can't be in the bath for 30 minutes without having to get out and pee.
Get... out?
posted by emelenjr at 11:32 AM on March 1, 2017 [6 favorites]
Get... out?
posted by emelenjr at 11:32 AM on March 1, 2017 [6 favorites]
Ew.
posted by mochapickle at 11:34 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by mochapickle at 11:34 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
And what's the cut-off point for urine in a pool to be gross? One person peeing in an Olympic pool? Probably not gross. 100 people peeing in it? Can that be gross? Eventually you're swimming in 100% urine. That's kinda gross.
An Olympic-sized pool has 2.5 million liters of water in it. The average 24-hour volume of pee for any given person is between .8 and 2 liters. So say the average in-pool pee is .5 liters. Literally 5 million people would have to pee in that pool to make it 100% urine.
But even if 1000 people use an olympic pool in one day and everyone pees four times, that's 2000 liters of pee dissolved in 2,5000,000 liters of chlorinated, actively filtered water. That's a 0.08% concentration of pee, of which only 5% is not itself water. That's 0.004% urea and other contaminants, if any only if everyone pees at the exact same moment.
TL;DR: Pools are huge. Bladders are tiny.
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:37 AM on March 1, 2017 [17 favorites]
An Olympic-sized pool has 2.5 million liters of water in it. The average 24-hour volume of pee for any given person is between .8 and 2 liters. So say the average in-pool pee is .5 liters. Literally 5 million people would have to pee in that pool to make it 100% urine.
But even if 1000 people use an olympic pool in one day and everyone pees four times, that's 2000 liters of pee dissolved in 2,5000,000 liters of chlorinated, actively filtered water. That's a 0.08% concentration of pee, of which only 5% is not itself water. That's 0.004% urea and other contaminants, if any only if everyone pees at the exact same moment.
TL;DR: Pools are huge. Bladders are tiny.
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:37 AM on March 1, 2017 [17 favorites]
I am not a doctor, but I'd bet 100 dollars that you or I could swim in a warm pool of pure human urine and live to tell the tale.
Why, a feller who did that could even grow up to become president someday!
posted by stevis23 at 11:40 AM on March 1, 2017 [23 favorites]
Why, a feller who did that could even grow up to become president someday!
posted by stevis23 at 11:40 AM on March 1, 2017 [23 favorites]
Some people find this kind of information gross. Others don't. We contain multitudes... of bacteria! argggghh!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:51 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:51 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Every chemist, biologist, toxicologist, etc. laughs at the body horror people express about pee in pool water, all while being completely fine with the powerful oxidants we dump into the same pools by the kilogram. Sign me up for laps in the salt water pool, thanks, and don't get me started on how weird it is that this hits more nerves than the sheer volume of animal feces and pus directly ingested by industrial food consumers with little more than a shrug. People are weird!
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 12:08 PM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 12:08 PM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
We contain multitudes
I whiz my barbaric yawp into the pools of the world
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:10 PM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
I whiz my barbaric yawp into the pools of the world
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:10 PM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Most things that people find gross have some connection to sickness, disease, or illness, so that does seem to be a pretty good guideline. And although there are some things that seem to be fundamentally disagreeable on an almost subconscious level, most "gross" things seem to be predominantly socially determined, so it's probably not a bad idea to remind people when they're being grossed-out irrationally, so that we don't mindlessly propagate outdated, witchcraft-grade ideas of hygiene down through generations. Personally, I'd like it if more people were grossed-out by the idea of preparing food without washing their hands first, rather than the whole peeing in the pool thing, since one will and does regularly kill people, and the other does not. But that's just me.
The history of pool chlorination is kinda interesting, in that it's a relatively new invention, and what we think of as a "pool" today would have been fairly gross up until about a century ago. That people built swimming pools without any reliance on free-flowing water (i.e. distinct from traditional Turkish or Roman public baths that have water constantly flowing through them) has always surprised me a little.
According to at least one article, the first pool to be chlorinated was the Colgate Hoyt Pool at Brown University, chlorinated in 1910. But it was built 1903. So for at least seven years, depending on how often the pool water was changed, it could have been pretty iffy. (And the article on the pool's construction notes that it takes 18 hours to fill and initially filter, so it's not likely they were draining and refilling it that often.) But it was only getting about 50-125 people per day using it, which in a 70,000-gallon pool, assuming everyone observes some reasonable precautions, probably wasn't that bad—though supposedly it did lead to a lot of ear infections among the swim team.
It's impressive, really, how little chlorine it takes to sanitize a pool, and how inexpensive that chlorine is. At my local Home Depot, a gallon of 8% solution is less than $3, and my napkin math suggests that's enough to bring 80,000 gallons of water to a 1ppm Cl concentration.
That's not enough chlorine to actually oxidize much organic waste—to do that you need to periodically raise the concentration significantly, or add some other oxidizer—but at 1ppm you don't need to be worried about getting an ear infection from dunking your head, like the Brown Class of 1909 kids did. That's pretty cool.
Sign me up for laps in the salt water pool
Most—nearly all, with the exception of those on cruise ships that are dumped nightly—salt water pools are actually chlorinated. They just don't have chlorine added to them directly; the chlorine is present in the salt (NaCl) and then the water has electricity run through it at some point in the filtration process to liberate the chlorine. They're neat systems, but I find it odd that so many people seem to think that they're fundamentally different than "chlorine pools". It's not the salt keeping them sanitized—a fact you can easily test out by taking some water out of one and leaving it stagnant in a bucket for a few days. (It'll be quite gross.) You can sanitize with salt, but it'd be like swimming in pickle juice, and not the 1500ppm or so salt levels that most saltwater pool or spa systems use.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:27 PM on March 1, 2017 [10 favorites]
The history of pool chlorination is kinda interesting, in that it's a relatively new invention, and what we think of as a "pool" today would have been fairly gross up until about a century ago. That people built swimming pools without any reliance on free-flowing water (i.e. distinct from traditional Turkish or Roman public baths that have water constantly flowing through them) has always surprised me a little.
According to at least one article, the first pool to be chlorinated was the Colgate Hoyt Pool at Brown University, chlorinated in 1910. But it was built 1903. So for at least seven years, depending on how often the pool water was changed, it could have been pretty iffy. (And the article on the pool's construction notes that it takes 18 hours to fill and initially filter, so it's not likely they were draining and refilling it that often.) But it was only getting about 50-125 people per day using it, which in a 70,000-gallon pool, assuming everyone observes some reasonable precautions, probably wasn't that bad—though supposedly it did lead to a lot of ear infections among the swim team.
It's impressive, really, how little chlorine it takes to sanitize a pool, and how inexpensive that chlorine is. At my local Home Depot, a gallon of 8% solution is less than $3, and my napkin math suggests that's enough to bring 80,000 gallons of water to a 1ppm Cl concentration.
That's not enough chlorine to actually oxidize much organic waste—to do that you need to periodically raise the concentration significantly, or add some other oxidizer—but at 1ppm you don't need to be worried about getting an ear infection from dunking your head, like the Brown Class of 1909 kids did. That's pretty cool.
Sign me up for laps in the salt water pool
Most—nearly all, with the exception of those on cruise ships that are dumped nightly—salt water pools are actually chlorinated. They just don't have chlorine added to them directly; the chlorine is present in the salt (NaCl) and then the water has electricity run through it at some point in the filtration process to liberate the chlorine. They're neat systems, but I find it odd that so many people seem to think that they're fundamentally different than "chlorine pools". It's not the salt keeping them sanitized—a fact you can easily test out by taking some water out of one and leaving it stagnant in a bucket for a few days. (It'll be quite gross.) You can sanitize with salt, but it'd be like swimming in pickle juice, and not the 1500ppm or so salt levels that most saltwater pool or spa systems use.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:27 PM on March 1, 2017 [10 favorites]
bondcliff: "This is why we have an immune system. FFS, scary bacteria and germs are teh everywherezz!
Why do people always do this in threads like this? We're all aware that we have immune systems and can handle bacteria. Doesn't mean I want someone to take a dump in the middle of my dining room table while I'm eating a pot roast.
We're allowed to just find gross things gross sometimes.
And what's the cut-off point for urine in a pool to be gross? One person peeing in an Olympic pool? Probably not gross. 100 people peeing in it? Can that be gross? Eventually you're swimming in 100% urine. That's kinda gross."
Don't kinkshame.
posted by Samizdata at 12:40 PM on March 1, 2017
Why do people always do this in threads like this? We're all aware that we have immune systems and can handle bacteria. Doesn't mean I want someone to take a dump in the middle of my dining room table while I'm eating a pot roast.
We're allowed to just find gross things gross sometimes.
And what's the cut-off point for urine in a pool to be gross? One person peeing in an Olympic pool? Probably not gross. 100 people peeing in it? Can that be gross? Eventually you're swimming in 100% urine. That's kinda gross."
Don't kinkshame.
posted by Samizdata at 12:40 PM on March 1, 2017
Mod note: One comment deleted. Samizdata, your quoting app copies the whole comment you're replying to, and it makes threads hard to read. It's fine to link back if you're replying, but from here on out, please just choose one line of the comment and delete the rest, rather than repeating the whole thing in your comment.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:47 PM on March 1, 2017
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:47 PM on March 1, 2017
I can't believe no one did this.
Metafilter: a warm pool of pure human urine
posted by AFABulous at 1:26 PM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
Metafilter: a warm pool of pure human urine
posted by AFABulous at 1:26 PM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
You easily grossed out people, please continue avoiding the pool because of your pee fears. I personally hate crowded pools, so this will work out nicely for me!
posted by Joh at 1:27 PM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Joh at 1:27 PM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Between human waste, snapping turtles, and great white sharks, my only form of water recreation will continue to be a hot shower.
Nowhere is safe from snapping turtles.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:15 PM on March 1, 2017
Nowhere is safe from snapping turtles.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:15 PM on March 1, 2017
Folks, you're going to hate learning what fish do in the ocean.
Never mind the fish, as I posted before, it's the marine mammals you need to watch out for.
posted by Kabanos at 2:18 PM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Never mind the fish, as I posted before, it's the marine mammals you need to watch out for.
posted by Kabanos at 2:18 PM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
My intention was not to kinkshame anyone. This thread feels so rude in general and I guess I joined in with my annoyance over being judged as well. Skipping these in the future.
posted by agregoli at 2:59 PM on March 1, 2017
posted by agregoli at 2:59 PM on March 1, 2017
urine is absolutely sterile.
Fyi this is totally not true.
posted by smoke at 3:08 PM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]
Fyi this is totally not true.
posted by smoke at 3:08 PM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]
I am not a doctor, but I'd bet 100 dollars that you or I could swim in a warm pool of pure human urine and live to tell the tale.
Well, either you'd never stop telling the tale or you'd never ever tell a single person. None of this halfway house "live to tell the tale".
posted by ambrosen at 3:13 PM on March 1, 2017
Well, either you'd never stop telling the tale or you'd never ever tell a single person. None of this halfway house "live to tell the tale".
posted by ambrosen at 3:13 PM on March 1, 2017
For the past two years I have been helping with an infant now toddler. Male. What with infrequent junior fireman routines, the occaissional leaky diaper, and standing up too soon from the potty chair events I have no fear whatsoever of pee. It's a liquid. Deal with it. Properly of course.
posted by njohnson23 at 3:35 PM on March 1, 2017
posted by njohnson23 at 3:35 PM on March 1, 2017
My intention was not to kinkshame anyone. This thread feels so rude in general and I guess I joined in with my annoyance over being judged as well. Skipping these in the future.
I assumed they were kidding? Maybe not?
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:54 PM on March 1, 2017
I assumed they were kidding? Maybe not?
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:54 PM on March 1, 2017
Folks, you're going to hate learning what fish do in the ocean.
"Ah, water. Never touch the stuff. Fish fuck in it.”
posted by Talez at 4:50 PM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
"Ah, water. Never touch the stuff. Fish fuck in it.”
posted by Talez at 4:50 PM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Talez, you're going to hate learning what someone has done in this thread.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:51 PM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:51 PM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
This thread? Never touch the stuff. Mefites fuck in it.
posted by Talez at 7:59 PM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Talez at 7:59 PM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
I realized I was of course brushing my teeth every day with tap water
When I went to the Soviet Union in 1988, there was no such thing as bottled water and we were so thoroughly traumatized by our tour chaperone (and the jugs of brown-gritty-ice water they put on the tables at dinner) that we bought club soda up in the hard-currency shop at the top of the hotel to brush our teeth with.
Have you ever exposed toothpaste to club soda? You want to make sure you don't firmly shut your mouth or it will pressure-release out your nose.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:11 PM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
When I went to the Soviet Union in 1988, there was no such thing as bottled water and we were so thoroughly traumatized by our tour chaperone (and the jugs of brown-gritty-ice water they put on the tables at dinner) that we bought club soda up in the hard-currency shop at the top of the hotel to brush our teeth with.
Have you ever exposed toothpaste to club soda? You want to make sure you don't firmly shut your mouth or it will pressure-release out your nose.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:11 PM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Up the street from us there's a public pool - you pay a little money, and can swim. They have a cool slide and current pool that goes outside and, it's all around pretty great. Also, when you pay, right at the entrance there, there's this bench and behind it a window. Into the pool, from just above the floor at the deep end (12feet?) So you can look up and watch people swimming. Or people jump in and go blasting by the window. It's cool.
Until you look down. At what's floating around on the bottom. I'm not germ phobic or anything but golly. Pools are not flattering about bodies and all that goes with them.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:27 AM on March 2, 2017
Until you look down. At what's floating around on the bottom. I'm not germ phobic or anything but golly. Pools are not flattering about bodies and all that goes with them.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:27 AM on March 2, 2017
Mefite fucks are actually sterile though. That's why they used to use them in the Civil War.
We have such a shortage of fucks right now that we can't safely conduct MeSurgery.
posted by Talez at 9:02 AM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
We have such a shortage of fucks right now that we can't safely conduct MeSurgery.
posted by Talez at 9:02 AM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
Ha, I was going to post this same thing, only framing it like this:
Title: Warm Spot detected around Ryan Lochte
0.009%. That's generally how much urine is in the pool. Also, there is no "urine indicator dye."
posted by not_on_display at 10:34 PM on March 2, 2017
Title: Warm Spot detected around Ryan Lochte
0.009%. That's generally how much urine is in the pool. Also, there is no "urine indicator dye."
posted by not_on_display at 10:34 PM on March 2, 2017
...which means that in a 830,000 liter pool, 75 liters is urine.
75. Seventy-five! 75 liters of urine. Glug glug glug, right into the pool.
Somehow it doesn't make me feel any better?
posted by mochapickle at 11:13 PM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
75. Seventy-five! 75 liters of urine. Glug glug glug, right into the pool.
Somehow it doesn't make me feel any better?
posted by mochapickle at 11:13 PM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
At those levels you could wet sugar pills with it sell them as a 1000X homeopathic urea remedy for UTIs.
Also, I learned yesterday that drinking urea is a treatment for chronic hyponatremia.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:09 AM on March 3, 2017
Also, I learned yesterday that drinking urea is a treatment for chronic hyponatremia.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:09 AM on March 3, 2017
Somehow it doesn't make me feel any better?
When urine reacts with chlorine it becomes chloramine. This in itself is a mild disinfectant and used to treat drinking water in place of chlorine because it has less of a tendency to form nasty byproducts like chloroform or carbon tetrachloride during the disinfection reactions. The two reasons why it's bad in a pool is because pools require a higher level of disinfectant than drinking water and chloramines reduce the level of free chlorine available to act as a disinfectant. The second is because chloramines irritate the respiratory tract.
There's very little actual free urea in a pool.
posted by Talez at 8:20 AM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
When urine reacts with chlorine it becomes chloramine. This in itself is a mild disinfectant and used to treat drinking water in place of chlorine because it has less of a tendency to form nasty byproducts like chloroform or carbon tetrachloride during the disinfection reactions. The two reasons why it's bad in a pool is because pools require a higher level of disinfectant than drinking water and chloramines reduce the level of free chlorine available to act as a disinfectant. The second is because chloramines irritate the respiratory tract.
There's very little actual free urea in a pool.
posted by Talez at 8:20 AM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by The Card Cheat at 8:50 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]