True story. When I was still a little kid, say about 9 or 10, my family and I would go to a public swimming pool in a nearby suburb. One time while there, I was in the shallow end, slowly walking across the pool. Then I paused, ever so briefly, and a look of utter contentment came over me. That is when a nearby life guard saw me and yelled, “Hey! No peeing in the pool!”
But why can’t you pee in a public pool? The rules are usu. clearly posted telling you not to. But pee in sterile. What’s the worst that could happen if one or two people occassionally peed in the pool? I’m not joking and I’m not being naive here. I really wonder about this. (Don’t worry though, I haven’t even been in a pool for a while;).)
Well:)?
[Jim B.]
Well, the bracketed material is for Mr. Adams. Now, I submit this question to the rest of you on these boards:)…
There’s nothing wrong with the occasional pee; I think people are kidding themselves if they don’t think they’re jumping into a public pool that’s at least some part urine. However, if we say “No peeing in the pool” and we assume that some people are going to pee in it anyway, what happens if we say, “Fine, you can pee in the pool”? It becomes a toilet.
I assume you’re joking. But again, as I said, I don’t think one or two people peeing would make that much difference.
Also, far be it from me to question a moderator:). But why does this belong in IMHO? It’s clearly a question. (I even submitted it to Cecil.) Just wondering:).
Unlike in a lake, if you’re in some sorts of pool, especially in the shallow end, if you’re peeing, the pee actually shows up in the water around you. So people will know what you’re up to.
No, it’s a serious question from me as a poster. If it’s perfectly OK to pee in the pool, why do you think only one or two people will do so? How many people peeing in the pool would you regard being a problem? Ten? One hundred?
The way your question is phrased doesn’t lend itself to a strictly factual answer. When you say “what’s the worst that can happen?”, you seem to extend the question beyond health risks. Most of us think that swimming in pee or ingesting someone else’s urine is something to be avoided, no matter how sterile it might be.
Let’s amp this up a a notch. OP, do you mind if I pee on you? After all, my pee is sterile. Sterile’s got nothing to do with. FWIW, I wouldn’t swim in a pool of alcohol either.
No? If I dilute my pee 1:1 with water, can I splash it on you? 2:1? 100:1? One drop of pee to a million gallons? Yes? OK, so now we’ve established it’s a matter of proportion.
The reality is, I think everybody accepts that there is probably some pee in a pool; but it only works if you pretend the water is pristine.
I accept that there’s pee from toddlers, but I don’t accept adults peeing in a public pool for convenience. If that’s what they in fact do, there’s one more reason for me not to visit the local public pool.
If you want, you can open a new thread in GQ restricted to “what are the actual health consequences of a small amount of urine in a public pool” and I’ll close this one. Asking “What’s the worst that can happen” I think is too broad for GQ, at least for a question like this.
But I think it’s just as well leaving it in IMHO, since people can still post regarding the more specific question.
Yeah, because they put a chemical in the pool that interacts with urine and makes a purple line that will follow you around the pool and everybody will know you pee’d.
At least that’s what my cousins told me when I was little…
I never understood that lame excuse: “after all, pee is sterile!” So what? Lots of things are sterile that you wouldn’t want in or on your body. Carbon monoxide is sterile. Hydrochloric acid is sterile. Tabasco Sauce is sterile. You still wouldn’t want to swim in any of them.
I recently watched the movie Take This Waltz and there is a scene where Michelle Williams’ character pees in a pool and it turns blue, so I guess there are some people who still believe this.
