Is It Safe To Pee In The Pool ... And Other Water Safety Questions

Beach read? Check. Sunscreen? Check. Cold Drink? Check. Chlorine-resistant germs? Think again.

Each year, people in the United States make hundreds of millions of pool visits -- and this summer is likely to be no different, with a brutal heat wave slamming much of the country. Forty-one percent of children ages seven to 17 and 17.4 percent of adults make at least six trips each year, according to the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention.

But while swimming can certainly be a healthy pastime, allowing you to burn calories while staying cool outdoors, the number of recreational water illnesses (RWIs) has been on the rise over the past few years, according to the Water Quality And Health Council. And though we rightfully tend to worry about taking precautions against sunburn and drowning accidents, it's also important to keep an eye out for pool water safety.

Test your poolside knowledge here:

Water Safety Quiz

Let's see how you do on the next question.

To get the highest score, get all the answers right in the fastest time!
The clock will start as soon as you submit your first answer.

 

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Question 1 of 11

True or False: Urinating in the pool is safe -- chlorine kills everything, anyway.

True

False

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Sources:

CDC
Water Quality & Health Home
C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll On Children's Health

Comments

[Brandon Christian]

05:27 PM on 08/16/2011

Good stuff to get out there. One of the answers is wrong, however. Cryptosporidium is chlorine-tolerant, but chlorine still kills it through hyperchlorination for 10 days. So even though it is true that normal chlorination does not kill this parasite, to say chlorine doesn't kill it is false. It does.

[tinbon434]

08:40 AM on 07/31/2011

This article makes me not want to swim in a public pool.

Within a minute With proper disinfection levels of chlorine, along with appropriate pH levels and a temperature of at least 77 degrees F, most bacteria will be killed within a minute.

I would not let my child swim in a public pool. These are adult sexually transmitted dieseases. Hepatitis A, Giardia and Crypto, are more chlorine resistant. That are seem in the Gay World And Aids

http://aidsetc.org/aidsetc?page=print&build=print&pf=http%3A%2F%2Faidsetc.org%2Faidsetc%3Fpage%3Dcg-305_preventing_oi_exposure

[candyazzbb]

07:52 AM on 07/31/2011

wha tabpout parents who let their kids in the pool in diapers? like theyre not gonna pee? sorry i dont do communal pools.

[candyazzbb]

07:51 AM on 07/31/2011

same here i answered the questions and it just went back to the beginning. seriously a waste of time why cant they just list it. like we need to take a quiz. *rolls eyes*

[teltech543]

07:50 AM on 07/31/2011

Don't swim in public pools if you are concerned about your safety. Don't swim in private pools if you are concerned about your safety. Do swim in your own pool unless you don't take care of it properly.

[allencollinsa]

07:14 AM on 07/31/2011

What if somebody took a crap in the community pool?

[allencollinsa]

07:13 AM on 07/31/2011

I knew this guy one time that masturbated in his apartment complex pool every nite and then people would swim in it the next day.

[GGSS2020]

01:19 AM on 08/01/2011

Ewwwwwwwwwww

[GBYACHT]

07:12 AM on 07/31/2011

What did I miss? I answered all the questions and did not get my results. Where are the correct answers??

Nevertheless, I live at a condo in FL and when motel season and all the brats show up I will not go in the pool. I am allergic to chlorene anyway - seriously - that is how I got out of swim class in high school.

[Mister Serene]

06:57 AM on 07/31/2011

Be afraid, be very afraid...

[gr8bsn]

04:50 AM on 07/31/2011

I grew up in Phoenix where it is very hot. I lived next to a park with a huge public pool and I swam there all the time. How come I and no one else I knew ever got sick? I'm pretty sure that thing was a big toilet bowl. Stop being such babies people.

[andrew JL 3]

03:44 AM on 07/31/2011

"Watch out where the huskies go. Don't you eat that yellow snow."- Zappa

[Peter Busarac]

03:07 AM on 07/31/2011

There is a saying and a pool sign to go with it. " We don't swim in your toilet, so please don't pee in our pool."

[Skimsoco76]

02:23 AM on 07/31/2011

don't pee in my pool, i won't swim in your toliet

[Christina Himes]

02:22 AM on 07/31/2011

I always maintain the chemical levels in our pools. The water is nice and clear, and there isn't any odor to it. I told the kids that if they pee in the pool, the water will turn green. When we started filling up the pool, my kids were playing in it and my daughter admitted to peeing in it. Once we got more water in the pool, the iron content caused it to turn green. It worked perfect, so the kids and us always make sure to get out of the pool and go potty. Even if they pee on the grass, it's better than in the pool. Urine mixes with chlorine and produces a chemical that gives the pool a strong chlorine odor and acts as an irritant.

[cameraman100]

03:34 AM on 07/31/2011

I was incharge of an indoor & outdoor pool complex for 35 yesrs. When you smell chlorine around a pool, you are not smelling chlorine but chloramines. You get chloramines when you mix chlorine and ammona. You get ammona in the pool several ways. Pee, leaves and like items that break down leaving ammona, but the biggest sourse is sweat. The way to get rid of chloramines is to burn it out buy by getting your chlorine to at least 10 ppm.

[ardraaa]

02:18 AM on 07/31/2011

The teaser was "Should You Shower Before a Swim?". *I* am not the problem. It's whether everyone else is clean.

*I* should definitely shower AFTER a swim in a public pool.