Why is there so much poop in Atlanta swimming pools?

[Admin]

http://news.yahoo.com/why-much-poop-swimming-pools-214500237.html

A CDC report finds that more than half of public pools are basically toilets.

Who would've guessed

would prove so prophetic?

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionfound that more than half of all public pools had tested positive for E. Coli, the bacteria most commonly associated with fecal matter.

In the study, the CDC sampled water from filters in 161 public swimming pools, both indoor and outdoor, in the Atlanta, Ga., area. Of those samples, 58 percent showed signs of E. Coli. Though the researchers could not definitively blame human waste for the results, they wrote that it "signifies that swimmers introduced fecal material into pool water."

"It is time to stop treating the swimming pool as a toilet," Michele Hlavsa, head of the CDC's Healthy Swimming Program, told NBC. "Nowhere else except for the pool is it acceptable to poop in public or pee in public. In other places if we did this in public, we'd be arrested."

So what's the blame for the stinky problem?

Children, specifically diapered babies and those who aren't toilet trained, can easily introduce poop into the water — a "formed fecal incident," as the CDC kindly calls it. (There's a reason for the kiddy pool.)

However, children aren't alone in fouling the water. The report also faults adults for poor pre-swim etiquette, noting that those who dive in without first properly showering — with soap — can bring traces of fecal matter with them. And just in case you needed another reason not to pee in the pool, the report says that traces of sweat and urine inhibit chlorine's ability to clean water. In short, going number one makes it that much worse when someone else goes number two.

Swimmers ill with diarrhea greatly increase the risk of contamination. So, the report says, you really shouldn't swim in a public pool if suffering from intestinal troubles. Even if there's no sign telling you not to, which was the case at 70 percent of the pools the CDC checked, it's still a bad idea.

Though the CDC confirmed that public pools are pretty gross, they're not necessarily hazardous. Researches never confirmed any illness related to the pool water, and as the report states, "Results alone cannot be used to determine whether the detected pathogens were viable or infectious or determine the level of swimmer risk."

Plus, the report looked only at pools in the Atlanta area, so the results might not be representative of the country as a whole.

Still, the report asked that everyone kindly use a bathroom when they have to use the bathroom, to ensure that people are the only floaters found in pools this summer.

[DJlaysitup]

I've never maintained a pool - but I can only imagine how hard it is to keep a public pool - heavily used by kids - relatively clean and germ free - without using chemicals to the point that it isn't really safe.

I remember a story a year or so ago (can't remember where), where a public pool had become so cloudy in the deep end that they couldn't see the bottom. Some poor lady dove in and drowned and lay at the bottom for the whole day. I believe they found her the next day when the filters had enough time to clean the water.

Basically, kids never want to get out of the pool and lots of parents just want to lay back on the lounge chairs - trusting the lifeguard to take care of things.

Add to that - as a rule the bathrooms at public pools are usually a mess. Even if all the kids go to the bathroom to poop - chances are they aren't going to be all that careful wiping.

On the positive side it's obviously not an epidemic where kids are all getting seriously ill. Who knows - it might even be good for them. Some folks say that exposure to germs in one's youth actually helps to build one's resistance for later in life. But, wow...it sure does sound gross to me .

[DrReality]

and its not even summer yet??????????????????

[macdaddy]

I'm a germaphobe for sure but stuff like this i've given up worrying about. Of course there are going to be traces of all this stuff but like they point out does it really matter if it doesn't make you sick?

Who has ever showered 'with soap' just because they were about to jump in a pool. I can't say i've ever said 'hang on let me take a shower before we go to the pool' unless i had just mowed the lawn or something.

[Admin]

I'm a germaphobe for sure but stuff like this i've given up worrying about. Of course there are going to be traces of all this stuff but like they point out does it really matter if it doesn't make you sick?

Who has ever showered 'with soap' just because they were about to jump in a pool. I can't say i've ever said 'hang on let me take a shower before we go to the pool' unless i had just mowed the lawn or something.

I wouldn't say I'm a germaphobe, unless we're talking about eating cake after someone has blown out the candles on it and then hell no I'm not eating that, but I don't worry about pools. I've never taken a shower with soap before going in the pool either and I doubt most people do either.

[HawkItus]

Our HOA has a security guard who makes everybody shower before entering the pool. Problem is nobody gets undressed. Guys just take off their shirt and shower. The nether regions don't get washed, so really what is the purpose.

[Admin]

Our HOA has a security guard who makes everybody shower before entering the pool. Problem is nobody gets undressed. Guys just take off their shirt and shower. The nether regions don't get washed, so really what is the purpose.

Are you sure it's the HOA and not just some creepy security guard who likes to watch people shower?

[macdaddy]

Are you sure it's the HOA and not just some creepy security guard who likes to watch people shower?

Are you sure it's the HOA and not just some creepy security guard who likes to watch people shower?

Hey what's creepy about that...i mean no its for everyone's health.

[macdaddy]

I wouldn't say I'm a germaphobe, unless we're talking about eating cake after someone has blown out the candles on it and then hell no I'm not eating that, but I don't worry about pools. I've never taken a shower with soap before going in the pool either and I doubt most people do either.

You are a germaphobe then. I'm one and i've never even though about that. until now. Thanks. I love cake but its ruined for me.

Edited May 30, 2013 by macdaddy

[HawkItus]

Are you sure it's the HOA and not just some creepy security guard who likes to watch people shower?

Should I be concerned that he looks like this and calls everybody "Chris"?

[Admin]

You are a germaphobe then. I'm one and i've never even though about that. until now. Thanks. I love cake but its ruined for me.

Haha sorry about that man. That's really the only thing I have a weird thing about... oh wait I don't like drinking after anyone other than my gf so I guess I really might be one. But I don't go around sanitizing my hands and stuff all the time.

Should I be concerned that he looks like this and calls everybody "Chris"?

Haha I love that creepy old bastard

[macdaddy]

Haha sorry about that man. That's really the only thing I have a weird thing about... oh wait I don't like drinking after anyone other than my gf so I guess I really might be one. But I don't go around sanitizing my hands and stuff all the time.

Haha I love that creepy old bastard

Drinking after people is gross. I won't drink after my kids. I also hate passing around a desert when everyone cuts a piece of cake off with their nasty fork that's been in their mouth. Even worse is watching kids bob for apples. Ok yeah I need therapy.

[EazyRoc]

Drinking after people is gross. I won't drink after my kids. I also hate passing around a desert when everyone cuts a piece of cake off with their nasty fork that's been in their mouth. Even worse is watching kids bob for apples. Ok yeah I need therapy.

Germs won't kill you...unless they..you know..kill you.

[Admin]

Drinking after people is gross. I won't drink after my kids. I also hate passing around a desert when everyone cuts a piece of cake off with their nasty fork that's been in their mouth. Even worse is watching kids bob for apples. Ok yeah I need therapy.

I agree with all of those, man I might actually be a germaphobe :(

Germs won't kill you...unless they..you know..kill you.

Reminds me of that old George Carlin skit about germs...

[DJlaysitup]

Reminds me of that old George Carlin skit about germs...

OMG - that's hilarious! I had to watch the whole thing ...reminds me of when I was a kid and my Mom said to my Grandpa/Grandma that it was so frustrating getting us kids to take a bath every other day.

Grandpa said something like - well I never took more than 2 baths a winter until we got indoor plumbing (probably when he was 30+...he was born in 1896)...yet he lived till 100.

[Admin]

OMG - that's hilarious! I had to watch the whole thing ...reminds me of when I was a kid and my Mom said to my Grandpa/Grandma that it was so frustrating getting us kids to take a bath every other day.

Grandpa said something like - well I never took more than 2 baths a winter until we got indoor plumbing (probably when he was 30+...he was born in 1896)...yet he lived till 100.

I figure you would like that skit. Carlin was definitely one of the greatest comics ever. It was kind of ironic that he didn't live too much longer after that skit, maybe 5 years at the most I'm thinking.

Funny story there about bathing!