How to Keep Swimming Pools Clean
The Gag-Inducing Truth About Swimming Pools
A recent Center For Disease Control and Prevention study found health and safety violations in 80% of public swimming pools. Yikes! So when you take a dip what exactly are you getting into?
The top pool pollutants are body excrements like urine – a surprising number of people admit to peeing in pools – and feces, which remain in tiny quantities on swimmers bottoms after bowl movements. Then there's those who sneeze, cough, vomit, and even bleed into the pool, sharing their microorganisms with all who dare take a dip (fortunately, chlorine is generally effective at killing blood born illness like HIV). And if you've ever seen a sign asking you to rinse off before getting into a pool it's to prevent you from bringing your sweat, oils, and filth into the pool, which is another cause of water pollution.
All these icky contaminants can have some harmful effects, from causing diarrhea to infections of the skin, ears, eyes, and respiratory system. Yikes!
If the pool now sounds more like a petri dishes than a good time to you, take solace in the fact that you can exert some control over the sanitary status of your own private pool. To ensure you're not swimming in a sea of infectious body secretions, we consulted with the pro Jose Torres from Bio-Active, a company that creates innovative products to help with consumer issues like water remediation.
Keep reading for Jose's five tips to maintaining a clean pool. Hint: it takes more than chlorine.
1 Brush Surfaces
2 Combat Contaminants
