CDC Warns: Swimming Pools Are Not Toilets
- 11 years ago
The CDC warns that pools are not toilets.
Shocking though it may be, the CDC has actually had to address the issue of people relieving themselves in swimming pools. It turns out the public pool enemy number one is actually Number 2.
Said the Chief of their Healthy Swimming Program, “It is time to stop treating the swimming pool as a toilet. 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.”
The discovery came after last summer’s testing of public pools in four Georgia counties. The samples were screened for microbes, especially evidence of e-coli. As e-coli is carried via feces, if it’s present that’s likely the vehicle it took to get there.
58 percent of the samples turned up positive for the bacteria. Officials are unsure of how the water was contaminated, but suggest either someone had a bowel movement in the water, or it washed off someone’s body.
To prevent the contamination of yourself and the pool, the CDC recommends showering with soap before entering.
They also suggest parents check diapers and mandate bathroom breaks for kids every 60 minutes.
Shocking though it may be, the CDC has actually had to address the issue of people relieving themselves in swimming pools. It turns out the public pool enemy number one is actually Number 2.
Said the Chief of their Healthy Swimming Program, “It is time to stop treating the swimming pool as a toilet. 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.”
The discovery came after last summer’s testing of public pools in four Georgia counties. The samples were screened for microbes, especially evidence of e-coli. As e-coli is carried via feces, if it’s present that’s likely the vehicle it took to get there.
58 percent of the samples turned up positive for the bacteria. Officials are unsure of how the water was contaminated, but suggest either someone had a bowel movement in the water, or it washed off someone’s body.
To prevent the contamination of yourself and the pool, the CDC recommends showering with soap before entering.
They also suggest parents check diapers and mandate bathroom breaks for kids every 60 minutes.