How much pee is in our swimming pools?
Olympic swimmers admit to it and it seems many of the rest of us are peeing in the water too, with a new scientific test finding up to 75 litres of urine in public pools.
However, while urine is sterile, compounds in urine, including urea, ammonia, and creatinine have been found to react with disinfectants to form byproducts known as DBPs that can lead to eye and respiratory irritation. Long-term exposure to the compounds has been linked to asthma in professional swimmers and pool workers.
Need more proof that there’s pee in the pool? Next time you swim, take a whiff of the water. That classic pool smell isn’t actually the scent of chlorine, but instead, a compound called trichloramine.
