# Anybody use public swimming pools?



## firebroad (May 31, 2012)

I'm glad I don't, but here's something to think about...
http://now.msn.com/now/0531-pee-in-pool#scptmd


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## ISeeDeadBTUs (May 31, 2012)

Costner drank his own in Water World. Knolte bathes in his own. Or are other peeps' worse than your own? Who knows?


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## GAMMA RAY (May 31, 2012)

No, No and No!
I have this thang about public swimming pools...
Plus the chlorine turns my hair green...


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## firebroad (May 31, 2012)

That ain't chlorine, ga





GAMMA RAY said:


> No, No and No!
> I have this thang about public swimming pools...
> Plus the clorine turns my hair green...


That ain't chlorine, Gammy...



​


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## btuser (May 31, 2012)

My own swimming pool is public if you count the fair-weather phone calls:

"Hey, yeah it's hot.  Whatcha doing today?"


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## GAMMA RAY (May 31, 2012)

There is an old guy that lives across the street that is always inviting me over to swim in his pool.....
I use the chlorine excuse all the time!


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## Jack Straw (May 31, 2012)

How about the resorts that have bars in their pools. People sit there and drink  in the pool....you do the math!


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## firebroad (May 31, 2012)

Jack Straw said:


> How about the resorts that have bars in their pools. People sit there and drink in the pool....you do the math!


Things that make you go hmmmmm...


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## Jags (May 31, 2012)

Jack Straw said:


> How about the resorts that have bars in their pools. People sit there and drink in the pool....you do the math!


 
For hours - and never get up once.   Kinda like inner-tubing the local creek.


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## Delta-T (May 31, 2012)

ever swin in the ocean or in a lake? you know what pees in there? pretty much everyting . a lil urine never kilt nobody. Lets use out "way back machine" for a sec. In olden times, some of our memeber may remember, urine was used to clean your clothes, and, IIRC the discovery of phosphorus came from an alchemist trying to find the "socerers stone" by fermenting and distilling his own urine. Without people playing with pee we wold not have the strike anywhere match.


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## GAMMA RAY (May 31, 2012)

Did ya ever see a wad of chit floating by as you swim in a public pool?
I did...
The chit wigs me out more then the pee...and other various bodily fluids.


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## firebroad (May 31, 2012)

Delta-T said:


> ever swin in the ocean or in a lake? you know what pees in there? pretty much everyting . a lil urine never kilt nobody. Lets use out "way back machine" for a sec. In olden times, some of our memeber may remember, urine was used to clean your clothes, and, IIRC the discovery of phosphorus came from an alchemist trying to find the "socerers stone" by fermenting and distilling his own urine. Without people playing with pee we wold not have the strike anywhere match.


As for that lake, birds AND fish _poop_ in there. But I don't care, I ain't swimmin' in your tinkle.
However, I will use wee-wee to add high-energy nitrogen to my compost pile for my vegetable garden.


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## firebroad (May 31, 2012)

GAMMA RAY said:


> Did ya ever see a wad of chit floating by as you swim in a public pool?
> I did...
> The chit wigs me out more then the pee...and other various bodily fluids.


 
Ew.


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## Jack Straw (May 31, 2012)

Hey, just think about what's in a hotel's hot tub.....!!


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## GAMMA RAY (May 31, 2012)

Jack Straw said:


> Hey, just think about what's in a hotel's hot tub.....!!


 
Exactly.....!  Mr Gamma likes to go in them...but I refuse.
Hot bubbly water...breeding ground for bacteria....
Who knows what is growing in those hot tubs...ew


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## Jack Straw (May 31, 2012)

Oh it's a breeding ground alright!


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## fishingpol (May 31, 2012)

Hot tubs are a stew pot. Low water volume, high bather numbers. Pools are a bit safer. It is not just pee, but there is deodorant, makeup, hair gel, dead skin, suntan lotion, and a few other things I won't mention. Floaters scare me more than pee. .

A properly chlorinated and balanced pool should pose little risk.  Burning eyes or murky water is a sign that it is time to get out.  Using pools in the morning is best after they have filtered all night.


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## loon (May 31, 2012)

Just give Bill a call gang, he'll give ya the good to go 

loon


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## Jack Straw (May 31, 2012)

LMAO! loon


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## ScotO (May 31, 2012)

GAMMA RAY said:


> Exactly.....! Mr Gamma likes to go in them...but I refuse.
> Hot bubbly water...breeding ground for bacteria....
> Who knows what is growing in those hot tubs...ew


Yeah like the time my wife and I went to Niagra Falls for the weekend. It was a spur-of-the-moment trip, and it just so happened when we got there that every motel in town was filled due to a special olympics event that weekend. So we went a little way out of town and found a place with one room to rent......the honeymoon suite, complete with fireplace and hottub. We got settled and and decided "hey, we are paying for the honeymoon suite, we may as well have us a honeymoon!". We went out to slip into the hottub and there were all kinds of FLOATERS in the damm thing! From skin scum, soapy hairballs, to God-knows-what-else. Needless to say we didn't get in it, and it kinda 'ruined the mood' for my wife. I HATE public pools and hottubs........YUCK!


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## Weird tolkienish figure (May 31, 2012)

It's a misconception that chlorine will kill all bacteria out there, it's just the industry standard. Pools can make you sick and kill you (very rare but not unheard of). If you go in a public pool make sure you shower afterwards, never drink the water and be careful of cuts, etc.


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## Mrs. Krabappel (May 31, 2012)

I feel like I'm sitting in on a discussion in the old folks home. Bring me my applesauce.


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## fossil (Jun 1, 2012)

Did you ever stop to think and realize that as you watch a sunset, you breath in some atoms exhaled by every other human who has ever watched a sunset?  Not to mention all the animals who have ever lived on Earth.  We're all here together, sharing all the same resources.  Over and over and over again.


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## begreen (Jun 1, 2012)

Sound advice from Sagan, we are all stardust.


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## Mrs. Krabappel (Jun 1, 2012)

"Every time you drink a glass of water, you are probably imbibing at least one atom that passed through the bladder of Aristotle" Dawkins


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## Blue Vomit (Jun 1, 2012)

Friends had a pool growing up. They had a sign clearly posted "don't pee in our pool and we won't chit in your hat". I never quite understood that but I did think it was funny, and I never peed in their pool...I think you know why.


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## begreen (Jun 1, 2012)

We were born into a bacterial stew and we will die in one too.


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## firebroad (Jun 1, 2012)

~*~Kathleen~*~ said:


> I feel like I'm sitting in on a discussion in the old folks home. Bring me my applesauce.


Who says you aren't?


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## Pallet Pete (Jun 1, 2012)

GAMMA RAY said:


> No, No and No!
> I have this thang about public swimming pools...
> Plus the chlorine turns my hair green...


 
O common Gamma you know we all want to see your hair green  
It turns mine dark brown thats not as cool as green 

Pete


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## firefighterjake (Jun 1, 2012)

GAMMA RAY said:


> Did ya ever see a wad of chit floating by as you swim in a public pool?
> I did...
> The chit wigs me out more then the pee...and other various bodily fluids.


 
You sure that wasn't a Baby Ruth candy bar?


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## firefighterjake (Jun 1, 2012)

I don't swim in public swimming pools . . . just because with my big ol' white belly exposed I'm afraid someone will mistake me for Moby Dick.


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## Delta-T (Jun 1, 2012)

begreen said:


> Sound advice from Sagan, we are all stardust.


 
hmmm, Carl said that too? I learnt it from Crosby Stills Nash and Young singin a Joanie Mitchel (i thinks she wrote it anywho) tune...Woodstock.
"we are stardust, we are golden, and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden"....something like that. Be afraid people....its not like we're all covered in lil tiny creapy crawlies...oh wait, we are


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## firebroad (Jun 1, 2012)

firefighterjake said:


> You sure that wasn't a Baby Ruth candy bar?


Perhaps after it had already been eaten.


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## Jack Straw (Jun 1, 2012)

"We are million year old carbon"- CSN and sometimes Young


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## firebroad (Jun 1, 2012)

I am sure Dr. Sagan borrowed this from CSN&Y after enjoying the song while engaging in the odd recreational smoke.  Loved that guy, miss his books and TV presentations.


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## Weird tolkienish figure (Jun 1, 2012)

firebroad said:


> I am sure Dr. Sagan borrowed this from CSN&Y after enjoying the song while engaging in the odd recreational smoke. Loved that guy, miss his books and TV presentations.


 
Big Carl Sagan fan myself, despite disagreeing with him about some things. His "BS" detector is especially useful in debunking online cranks.


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## ironpony (Jun 1, 2012)

only to pee in..........


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## firebroad (Jun 1, 2012)

ironpony said:


> only to pee in..........


Best answer YET


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## Dtunes (Jun 1, 2012)

fishingpol said:


> Hot tubs are a stew pot. Low water volume, high bather numbers. Pools are a bit safer. It is not just pee, but there is deodorant, makeup, hair gel, dead skin, suntan lotion, and a few other things I won't mention. Floaters scare me more than pee. .
> 
> A properly chlorinated and balanced pool should pose little risk. Burning eyes or murky water is a sign that it is time to get out. Using pools in the morning is best after they have filtered all night.


+1. I was a life guard in highschool.  Pools have a lot of water and are pretty easy to maintain w/ chlorine if you pay attention.  It was basically impossible to keep the hot tub in spec. There is relatively little water in hot tubs so the chlorine/ph/etc would be all over the place regardless of how much effort you put into it.

Also a lot of people don't rinse off properly, or they go straight in the hot tub after working out to relax.  They also sweat more in the hot water. Between swimming competitively growing up and being a LG I've spent a lot of time in public pools.  They're not so bad if maintained properly. Aside from the understandable ickyness factor of pee in the pool, urine is generally sterile and not going to hurt anyone.  

Some tips I learned over the years:

Don't go swimming after a baby/toddler swim class.  They often have accidents, urine isn't a problem but other leaks are. Your supposed to shock a pool after any "accident" but some unscrupulous places don't want to close for the day or two required to shock the pool. 

Stay away from public hot tubs, especially in hotels where no one enforces the pre-shower rules and other nastyness is more likely to occur.

The "chlorine smell" and stinging eyes aren't a result of chlorine, but the by products of chlorine reacting with nasty stuff.  If a pool smells strongly of chlorine it's because it's dirty and the chlorine is reacting to microbes and other things that shouldn't be there.  A properly maintained chlorine pool shouldn't have a very strong smell(some smell yes, but not that knock down smell of some public pools) or sting your eyes unless your very sensitive to chemicals.


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## firebroad (Jun 1, 2012)

Dtunes said:


> +1. I was a life guard in highschool. Pools have a lot of water and are pretty easy to maintain w/ chlorine if you pay attention. It was basically impossible to keep the hot tub in spec. There is relatively little water in hot tubs so the chlorine/ph/etc would be all over the place regardless of how much effort you put into it.
> 
> Also a lot of people don't rinse off properly, or they go straight in the hot tub after working out to relax. They also sweat more in the hot water. Between swimming competitively growing up and being a LG I've spent a lot of time in public pools. They're not so bad if maintained properly. Aside from the understandable ickyness factor of pee in the pool, urine is generally sterile and not going to hurt anyone.
> 
> ...


Dtunes, that was really informative. I think most of us here do object to the "ickyness factor" rather than any pathogens that might result. Most of us know that insulating ourselves from every little germ or bacterium is detrimental to our immune system, and attacking those same pathogens just helps produce the superbugs that are inevitable. That being said, I would rather swim in a pond full of bird and fish s**t, or an ocean where anything is dumped, rather than an isolated pool with crystal clear water that Junior just peed, defecated and snotted in.

Lunch, anyone?


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## Jack Straw (Jun 1, 2012)

It's almost 3pm so it's time for supper, then the Lawrence Welk Show and off to bed at 8pm.

J.S. @ Shady Pines Assisted Living Center (aka God's waiting room)


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## GAMMA RAY (Jun 1, 2012)

Jack Straw said:


> It's almost 3pm so it's time for supper, then the Lawrence Welk Show and off to bed at 8pm.
> 
> J.S. @ Shady Pines Assisted Living Center (aka God's waiting room)


 
If you ask the nurse aka;  (Doll britches) nicely, maybe she will bring you a cookie after Lawrence Welk....


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## firebroad (Jun 1, 2012)

o





GAMMA RAY said:


> If you ask the nurse aka; (Doll britches) nicely, maybe she will bring you a cookie after Lawrence Welk....


...or a Baby Ruth?


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## GAMMA RAY (Jun 1, 2012)

~*~Kathleen~*~ said:


> I feel like I'm sitting in on a discussion in the old folks home. Bring me my applesauce.


 
I am not usually wigged out by germs and/or bodily fluids. It is just the public swimming pool/hot tub issue with me.
The way I look at it....
"We have an immune system for a reason....now let it do it's work dammit!"


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## BrotherBart (Jun 1, 2012)

GAMMA RAY said:


> (Doll britches)


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## Jack Straw (Jun 1, 2012)

GAMMA RAY said:


> If you ask the nurse aka; (Doll britches) nicely, maybe she will bring you a cookie after Lawrence Welk....


 

These are my nurses!!


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## WES999 (Jun 2, 2012)

Sometimes it is not the bodily fluids, its the *bodies*!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/30/massachusetts-dead-body-public-pool_n_888266.html


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## ISeeDeadBTUs (Jun 2, 2012)

Prolly git me in trouble wid some uptight reader, but hey, it appears within bounds, so . . .


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## GAMMA RAY (Jun 2, 2012)

That's what happens when Iseedeadbtu guy goes to the pool....


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## PA Fire Bug (Jun 2, 2012)

Thank you Dtunes for mentioning that urine is sterile.  Unless you have a urinary tract infection, your urine is free of bacteria.  It does, however, contain various toxins that I would want to drink.  Our public pool is one of our favorite places to be in the summer.  I don't usually think about the gross factor unless I see kids sucking in a lot of water.  I enjoy the clear, chlorinated pool water much more than lake or ocean water.


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## Dtunes (Jun 3, 2012)

Oh for the record I do think urine in the pool is gross and I do not pee in pools. I think as long as it's limited to some kids and the occasional jerk it's not a big deal. There is no defense for peeing in the pool, especially since just about every public pool has a bathroom close by. I grew up in a city so I'm more used to public everything.


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## Seasoned Oak (Jun 3, 2012)

PA Fire Bug said:


> Thank you Dtunes for mentioning that urine is sterile. Unless you have a urinary tract infection, your urine is free of bacteria. It does, however, contain various toxins that I would want to drink. Our public pool is one of our favorite places to be in the summer. I don't usually think about the gross factor unless I see kids sucking in a lot of water. I enjoy the clear, chlorinated pool water much more than lake or ocean water.


DIdnt you mean that you would NOT want to drink?


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## Seasoned Oak (Jun 3, 2012)

THe only place i swim in public is the state park lake .all natural mountain stream water,the fish dont bother me.


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## Seasoned Oak (Jun 3, 2012)

Its not so much the urine but the obese people with all the open sores on their body that gives public pools the off limits for me. It not a pool but a cess-pool. No thanks. Too much DNA .


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## Mrs. Krabappel (Jun 3, 2012)




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## webbie (Jun 3, 2012)

Seasoned Oak said:


> THe only place i swim in public is the state park lake .all natural mountain stream water,the fish dont bother me.


 
That was what I thought in WV - until I visited some people up the hollow and went out to their outhouse. It was suspended in the air and your bodily whatever went right down into a little gully/stream...that then went into the bigger stream, then to the bigger one, etc.


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## firebroad (Jun 4, 2012)

WES999 said:


> Sometimes it is not the bodily fluids, its the *bodies*!
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/30/massachusetts-dead-body-public-pool_n_888266.html


HOLY SMOKES!


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## ISeeDeadBTUs (Jun 4, 2012)

Ok, so none of this is Hearth related anyway, so . . .I'm curious . . .

What is it about 'obese people' in a pool that is worse than, say, anorexic people? Do obese people generally have open sores, whereas the rest of us do not?


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## Seasoned Oak (Jun 4, 2012)

webbie said:


> That was what I thought in WV - until I visited some people up the hollow and went out to their outhouse. It was suspended in the air and your bodily whatever went right down into a little gully/stream...that then went into the bigger stream, then to the bigger one, etc.


State park lake,no private homes allowed, right to the top of the mountain. When i was a kid we swam in the mountain lakes near our homes,most have a small % of sulfer content from old coal mine operations. Best disinfectant yet, no smell, no obvious harmful effects,and if you had a cut it seemed to heal much faster. Much better than chlorine as it dont evaporate.


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## Seasoned Oak (Jun 4, 2012)

ISeeDeadBTUs said:


> Ok, so none of this is Hearth related anyway, so . . .I'm curious . . .
> 
> What is it about 'obese people' in a pool that is worse than, say, anorexic people? Do obese people generally have open sores, whereas the rest of us do not?


Side effects of diabetes and other weight related conditions causing the body to develop a whole range of rashes,shingles ,bed sores, bruising and in general do not heal at normal rates. And Dont forget chaffing. Public hot tubs are worse, equiv to bathing in a urinal. IMO


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## Lousyweather (Jun 4, 2012)

GAMMA RAY said:


> Did ya ever see a wad of chit floating by as you swim in a public pool?
> I did...
> The chit wigs me out more then the pee...and other various bodily fluids.


 yep....swimming in the Hot Springs at Thermopolis, WY, a was unlucky enough to have to watch the ole brown submarine float by as well....got right out, havent been in a nother public pool since them...oh...was 1985, btw.


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## Jack Straw (Jun 4, 2012)

We swam at a local falls one day, went back the next day and there were several snakes swimming around...we never swam there again!


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## Seasoned Oak (Jun 8, 2012)

Jack Straw said:


> We swam at a local falls one day, went back the next day and there were several snakes swimming around...we never swam there again!


 Id rather swim with snakes than in a public pool.


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## begreen (Jun 9, 2012)

This thread reminds me of the last scenes in The Magic Christian. Everybody in the pool! (Sorry for the audio cutout, keep watching anyway.)


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