Public Pools Are Actually Disgusting And We Don't Talk About It Enough

Jun 14, 2018 by apost team

For young children and even adults, there's nothing better than a day at the public pool in the dog days of summer. Swimmers can cool off by splashing around in the water, eat ice cream cones, and adults can work on getting the perfect tan. But public pools are actually incredibly gross and people don't talk about it enough.

There are some seriously disgusting things going on right under the noses of swimmers. 
 

Pools always have a distinct smell, but that smell isn't chlorine. Well, not all of it anyway. According to Water and Health, the smell is a mixture of both the chemicals and the icky things the chlorine is meant to stop. So that means the stronger the chlorine smell, the more gross substance in the pool and the less likely the chlorine can handle everything. 

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It's inevitable that kids will pee in the pool and, heck, even some adults will. But at a crowded pool, that means swimmers are going to be swimming in a pool that has a significant amount of urine. It won't cause any health problems, as the dangerous UTI causing bacteria is killed by chlorine, but still. Gross. 

That's not to say that chlorine will kill everything, unfortunately. Even worse, the frequency of disease outbreaks from public pools has been increasing. These diseases can include some scary ones like typhoid, E. clot, cryptosporidium, food poisoning, shigella, and hepatitis A. 

Those diseases can be spread just from floating in the contaminated water, so imagine how terrifying it would be to accidentally ingest some pool water when splashing around. This not only puts the person at risk for all the other diseases mentioned, but also an array of other dangerous germs. 

It's not just pee that's in the pool. According to experts, by the end of the average day, there are multiple pounds of fecal matter shed in the pool. Barf. This is from poop particles left from people not wiping enough. Not to mention kids occasionally having an accident in the pool. 

If it isn't solid, like in the case of diarrhea, it will contaminate the pool instantly. 

Did this article make you rethink dipping into your neighborhood's pool? Are you now itching to take a shower because the thought of someone else's poop particles being on your skin makes you feel gross? We get it.

Make sure you show this article to your friends and family so they can be aware of the risks of swimming in pools! 

Our content is created to the best of our knowledge, yet it is of general nature and cannot in any way substitute an individual consultation with your doctor. Your health is important to us!