
Urine, Not Chlorine, Causes Red Eyes in Pools (2015) - briantailor
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/urine-not-chlorine-causes-red-eyes-pools-180955712/?no-ist
======
V-2
_" Luckily, there are several easy ways to prevent things from tainting your
poolside experience forevermore."_

Okay...

 _" Always shower before entering"_

Right, but I'm not the one with diarrhoea. I can't get everyone else to always
shower.

 _" stay out of the pool if you’re not feeling well"_

By the time you're feeling unwell, isn't it too late already?

 _" test water frequently if you own your own pool"_

Getting your own pool is certainly a great tip. Duly noted. For those of you
afraid of pickpockets on public transport - a very easy way of dealing with it
would be to get a car. For some reason it makes me think of The Onion :)

~~~
akuji1993
Reminds me a bit of Buzzfeed articles like "10 people you thought, were still
alive!" with a picture of Keanu Reeves as the article headline image and then,
obviously, he's not on the list.

Why do you even bother...

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ganonm
The chlorinates created when the chlorine reacts with e.g. sweat and urine is
what causes red eyes and breathing difficulties. From my experience, stay away
from hotel/health club pools. These usually have saunas and jacuzzis which
means people jump into the pool afterwards and contaminate it a lot... If you
are doing swimming for fitness you will be inhaling a much larger volume of
air, plus you will be inhaling air near the surface of the water where the
chlorinates are most concentrated. Stick to public leisure centres where the
pools are designated for fitness swimming. The people using these pools are
generally a lot more conscientious about showering before entering the pool.

~~~
nickjj
When you say difficulty in breathing, do you mean that feeling that you
sometimes get after being in a pool for a long time where if you take a deep
breath, it kind of hurts your lungs?

~~~
Reason077
That’s the feeling I get after walking or cycling in London traffic and
getting a lung full of diesel fumes...

~~~
frockington
I normally get that feeling when exercising on open trails as well or even
indoors. It's part of exercising intensely

~~~
Reason077
Perhaps, but it feels much worse in a polluted environment, and takes much
longer to go away (lungs still sore/“tight” hours later).

I do think it’s strange when I see people jogging along polluted arterial
roads for this reason. Especially when there are often traffic-free trails or
quiet back roads available nearby!

~~~
frockington
Interesting to hear it is a notable effect, I've never ran in a polluted
environment before. Next time I'm in New York I'll have to give it a try.

~~~
Reason077
New York is notably less polluted than many European cities. For one thing,
there are far less diesel vehicles. The US has long had stricter and more
effective vehicle emissions rules than Europe.

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sschueller
That is why you should shower before going in to the pool. At school we were
always required to shower before and after.

One pool I have been at added a shower you have to go through to get to the
pool. It's a continues curtain of water.

~~~
hackandtrip
Slightly off topic, but you should shower to avoid temperature difference too,
specially in hot days. I don't know about the lifeguard situation in USA, in
Italy it's pretty terrible; it should be absolutely required to have a shower
before jumping in the water.

~~~
arethuza
Why are sudden temperature changes bad? When I was a kid in the north of
Scotland we'd always jump in as gradual exposure to cold water was miserable -
the shock of jumping in was always quite bracing ;-)

Mind you - as I doubt if it was much above 20C most of the time I doubt the
temperature difference between air and water was that large!

~~~
simias
I think the idea is that a sudden immersion in cold water when the weather is
hot can cause a sudden contraction of your blood vessels which can result in a
syncope. At least that's what I've always been told, but I know there's a lot
of cargo culting and urban myths surrounding these topics so it's hard to know
what's really dangerous and what's just superstition. For instance as a kid
I've always been told that it was risky to swim just after eating a meal
(because of the bloodflow required for digestion or something like that) but
as far as I know it's been debunked and doesn't make biological sense.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Syncope == faint(ing)

TIL a new word,
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncope_(medicine)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncope_\(medicine\))

~~~
simias
I actually ended up with this word while attempting to translate the French
word "hydrocution" but after some more googling it looks like "cold shock
response" is the right term:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_shock_response](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_shock_response)

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tomclive
The headline is a bit clickbaity. The third paragraph starts with "In fact,
chlorine is still a culprit." A more accurate title could be "Urine and
Chlorine Cause Red Eyes in Pools."

~~~
wyattpeak
I think it's more accurate as it is. Your alternative suggests to me that both
contribute independently i.e. chlorine alone will burn eyes, where the article
suggests that isn't true.

Since chlorine in pools is ubiquitous, the urine's the central issue. C.f.
hydrogen tanks being labelled "fire hazard", not "fire hazard in an oxygen
environment".

~~~
tomclive
Maybe, but it's not only urine that causes red eyes. When chlorine binds with
any organic matter it can create compounds that sting your eyes. Sweat isn't
as eye-catching as urine.

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kbos87
I worked at a pool as a lifeguard instructor throughout high school and
college. The aquatics director used to try to explain this to people who would
blame her for misbalanced chemicals when there was a strong chlorine smell. It
would always get so much worse as soon as the pool got busy, like during a
swim class or children’s swim lessons. Getting people to shower before
entering the pool was a hopeless plight.

------
stonewhite
There is a very informative video[1] that also links to scientific papers
about this phenomenon and concludes much less sensationally.

Essentially, urine is a sterile substance containing %95 pure water and no
living cells or bacteria. Other than the asthma inducing effects of
chloramine, swimming at a public pool doesn't pose a massive threat to your
health.

[1]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S32y9aYEzzo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S32y9aYEzzo)

~~~
mattbessey
While that may be the case for urine, the article pretty clearly states that
fecal matter is a significant risk factor.

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newnewpdro
People would take their infant children swimming in "swimmies" (diapers) at an
apartment complex pool I used to often get ear and eye infections from using.
Once I learned that's what those children were wearing in the pool I ceased
all usage. Never had those problems before or after that particular rental.

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Scea91
Swimming pool I occasionally visit in Prague uses less chlorine and has
installed UV lamps in the pipes. The water quality is great. I hope this gets
more widespread.

~~~
herbst
I am there in a few days. May I ask which one?

~~~
Scea91
[https://www.hotelolsanka.cz/en/sports/swimming-
pool/](https://www.hotelolsanka.cz/en/sports/swimming-pool/)

------
andai
I want to stop learning now.

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rascul
I helped maintain a large public pool a few years back, and I saw first hand
how disgusting they could be. I now swim almost exclusively in creeks and
rivers.

~~~
fileoffset
And hope there isn't a school trip up stream...

~~~
megaman22
Or a dairy farm, or a beaver dam or...

~~~
rascul
I always consider what is upstream. Same when I fish.

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AnatMl2
>Actually, according to CDC healthy swimming spokesperson and epidemiologist
Michele Hlavsa, it’s poop. She tells LiveScience’s Rachael Rettner that people
with diarrhea can spread a filter and chorine-resistant Cryptosporidium, a
parasite that is the leading cause of waterborne disease.

I love swimming and this article has just disturbed me so much, I'm not sure
I'll be going to the swimming pool in the near future.

~~~
arethuza
My wife had an attack of cryptosporidium a few years back that the doctor said
was almost certainly from a swimming pool - very unpleasant bug.

~~~
icebraining
Was it covered or outdoors? The wiki says it can be deactivated using low
doses of UV, I wonder if being exposed to the sun is enough.

~~~
arethuza
Indoors - a public one that was close to end of life.

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peterburkimsher
Are there companies doing wastewater monitoring on pools for public health?

All kinds of disgusting things get flushed down toilets in homes and
businesses. I think that monitoring a swimming pool would give more helpful
data, because the bacteria/viruses/pollutants were all carried by humans.

~~~
lbruder
Working for a water treatment company here. We have created a mathematical
model for public pools that includes a projected number of visitors per
weekday, the weather forecast, school holidays, and based on that, a daily
influx of urine, feces, pus and so on. We use this model to create adaptive
controllers that minimize the amount of chemicals used to keep the water safe
while actually keeping it safe (work in progress).

Working for this company taught me stuff I really didn't want to know about...

~~~
gm-conspiracy
Now you just need to correlate your model with the stock market and use
Twitter for sentiment analysis.

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bitL
That just killed my swimming sessions. Thanks HN!

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swiley
I hadn’t been to a public pool in years (we have our own) until the other week
and had forgotten what it smelled/tasted like.

The smell/taste of public pool water is definitely mostly urine, chlorine does
not smell like that.

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M_Bakhtiari
How feasible is that mythical pool pee dye?

I suppose an indicator dye that responds to chloramines could be developed,
but the real challenge would be to make it safe and cheap enough not to be
counter-productive.

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marius_k
This title makes my eyes red.

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nso95
I think I’ll just stay out of the pool

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dalacv
just wear goggles, ear plugs and use a snorkel

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valeryB
Aren't the pools supposed to be sanitized everyday? And shouldn't it be shut
down if it's not properly maintained?

~~~
M_Bakhtiari
What kind of maintenance do you propose is going to prevent people from
micturating and defecating into the water?

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ageofwant
Well this is.... unfortunate.

