While public swimming pools are often treated with chlorine and other chemicals to prevent germs, that doesn't mean they're perfectly clean. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 80 percent of public swimming pools had health and safety violations. It kills bacteria and parasites, of course, but studies suggest it doesn't work wonders on our bodies. While we were tracking diseases in undertreated swimming pools, a 2002 study stated that we skipped a greater threat.
They were talking about chlorine, of course, and how it can play with our airways. In fact, five years later, scientists examined 800 teenagers who were constantly visiting indoor and outdoor pools, and found that people with asthma were more likely to suffer from acute attacks the longer they spent in any body of chlorinated water. Researchers found that, on average, tap water was cleaner than disinfected pool water samples. Each year, about 15 to 20 disease outbreaks, including stomach bugs and diarrhea, are attributed to dirty public swimming pools, according to the CDC.
A quarter of these outbreaks are caused by bacteria, parasites and viruses that could have been easily prevented if swimming pools had been properly chlorinated and monitored. Since laboratory ethics didn't really exist in the 1950s, researchers proved that they had found the right bacteria by isolating a sample from infected pools and heroically injecting it into their elbows. If you suspect germs or bacteria in pool water, adjust pool chlorine levels until the pH level reaches 7.2-7.6, and then wait five days for it to work before returning to the water. If there were, the water would turn green, or there would be green silt on the bottom or sides of the pool.
Diving in a pool is a lot like eating a hot dog, both are distinctive pleasures of summer, as long as no one talks about what they contain. Swedish patients suffered skin lesions on their elbows and, oddly enough, they had all suffered minor scratches in the same swimming pools. Pool operators need to monitor chlorine levels frequently, and there is even a current promotion from the Water Quality and Health Council that provides free water test strips, so pool attendees can test chlorine levels in public pools and report any problems to managers of the swimming pools. Chlorine is used in swimming pools to kill germs, but when it binds to pollutants that swimmers bring to swimming pools, such as sweat and urine, it can form chemicals known as chloramines.
A recent study published in the Journal of Environmental Science & Technology revealed that disinfectants used to keep swimming pools clean can create dangerous disinfection by-products (DBP) when mixed with sweat, urine and beauty products. When people enter swimming pools without showering, bacteria, sweat, and lotions interact with chlorine and ultimately make it less effective. The Council warns that, while swimmers are concerned that their eyes will turn red because there is too much chlorine in the water, in reality it is the opposite. After learning about the possibility of contracting diseases and infections on a trip to the beach, many people ask us if it is “safer to swim in swimming pools”.
UU. (EPA), an estimated 3.5 million people get sick each year after swimming in natural bodies of water that contain harmful bacteria and pollution. Most worrying is the fact that the places with the most disinfection violations were children's or children's pools and water play areas. A perfectly healthy pool would be odorless, and if chloramine levels have reached a point where they can be smelled, pool water can act as an irritant to the swimmer's eyes, skin and nose.
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 1 in 8 public swimming pools, hot tubs and water parks were closed due to health and safety violations, including excessively dirty water. .
