There's More Pee In Your Swimming Pool Than You Want To Know About

Urine levels in swimming pools have always been difficult to measure, but there's now a sugar substitute essentially ubiquitous in human urine that has helped scientists answer the question no one ever wants to know the answer to: how much pee is in this pool? Find out more here.

Created by Bruce Boyena

On Mar 1, 2017

Until recently, urine levels in swimming pools have always been, somewhat mercifully as it turns out, a mystery. But in a new study by Canadian scientists led by Xing-Fang Li, a sugar substitute that does not break down easily in chlorinated water and is used in enough products that basically all people in North America and China have it in their urine has shown us a very close and horrifying estimate of the amount of urine that actually exists in pools.

While this actually means an average of only about 0.0001% of your favorite pool consisting of urine (it could, we suppose, be worse), this should still be enough to give pause when considering a swim for a few other bothersome reasons.

Pool Urine Quick Facts

The chlorine smell from pools doesn't come from chlorine itself but from disinfection byproducts like chloramines, which are created when chlorine reacts with urine and other gross particles.
Another reaction with chlorine can create cyanogen chloride, a chemical warfare agent.
Additionally, these reactions can create nitrosamines, which cause cancer. While there is no proven link between pools and cancer, one study in Spain found that long-term swimmers had a higher risk of bladder cancers.
Pool water can go unchanged for years, introducing more chlorine to more urine, creating even more dangerous compounds.

So, now, what we'd like to know is...

Are you ever swimming in a pool again?

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