Summertime is here and we have all been there. You are floating peacefully in a public pool when a warm current drifts past. You try to tell yourself it is just a pocket of sun warmed water, but deep down, you know the truth. Someone just treated the shallow end like their personal bathroom!
If you have ever wondered exactly how much urine is swirling around you while you practice your breaststroke, science finally has a definitive, and slightly stomach-churning answer.
For decades, we could only guess how many swimmers were secretly relieving themselves. That changed when a team of researchers at the University of Alberta developed a genius way to measure it. They couldn't just look for urine directly, so they tracked an artificial sweetener called acesulfame potassium (ACE). ACE is found in thousands of processed foods and sodas. The human body cannot break it down, meaning it passes right through you and exits exclusively in your pee. Because it is chemically stable and doesn't degrade in chlorinated water, it acts as the perfect urinary tracker. The researchers tested 31 different public pools and hot tubs. The results? ACE was found in 100% of the pools tested, with concentrations up to 570 times higher than regular tap water.
So, what does that translate to in actual gallons? The researchers tracked two commercial-sized public pools over a three-week period and crunched the data:
- The Medium Pool (110,000 gallons): Contained roughly 8 gallons of pure urine.
- The Large Pool (220,000 gallons): Contained roughly 20 gallons of pure urine.
To put that into perspective, 20 gallons is enough to fill a medium-sized trash can or 20 large milk jugs. If you are currently hyperventilating, take a deep breath. Volumetrically, 20 gallons of pee in a 220,000-gallon pool represents about 0.01% of the total liquid. It is a tiny fraction, but it confirms that multiple pool visitors are quietly peeing in the pool every single day.
Do you ever get red eyes from the pool water? Most people assume that if their eyes get red and itchy after a swim, it is because the pool has "too much chlorine." This is a myth. Clean, properly chlorinated water does not make your eyes sting, nor does it have that aggressive, nostalgic "pool smell".
So how can we swim this Summer without any issues from the pee? Don't swallow the water! Keep your mouth closed while swimming to avoid accidentally ingesting those 20 gallons of shared history. Happy swimming and let's keep the number one out of the deep end!
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