Is Your Public Swimming Pool Safe? Dirty Pools and Diseases, CDC Reports

Is it safe to let your kids go swimming in the public pools? After reading the latest CDC report on cleanliness and safety of public pools, you may not think it's a good idea. Approx. 12.1% of checked public pools were found to have public health concerns. Why are the pools dirty? What kind of diseases are lurking in public swimming pools? Read on.

The CDC suggests that 1 in 8 pools are not safe. Phoenix will be testing their 40 swimming pools hourly. They have also installed automated monitoring systems that keep chlorine levels where they are supposed to be. The CDC has also strongly suggested that people go to their hardware stores and buy test kits. Parents should test the water before they let their kids go swimming in the public pools.

Pools can be dirty, toxic and full of many things that make kids and adults sick. Fecal matter is just the tip of the iceberg. Children with dirty diapers are adding to unsafe swimming pools. When 1 in 5 adults admit to urinating in swimming pools, how much urine must be in public swimming pools? Nitrogen from urine can actually eat chlorine. Sweat and suntan lotion can also damage chlorine in pools.

Sometimes the levels of chlorine can reach a damaging/toxic level. People who maintain pools have to keep an eye on the chlorine levels. Too little and disease takes over. Too much and sickness from exposure to toxic levels of chlorine develop. A ph test should be approx. 7.2-7.6.

Diseases.

Shigellosis or bacillary dysentery can cause fever, nausea, vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, stools that contain blood/mucus. Fecal matter that orally enters the body is how this is passed.

Giardiasis can show up as acute diarrhea and may lead to bloating, chronic diarrhea, frequent loose, pale, greasy stools.

Pseudomonas can lead to swimmer's ear and skin infections. Sometimes the rash looks like chicken pox.

E.Coli causes diarrhea and is usually responsible for 90% of all diarrhea cases.

These are just a few, there are many more diseases at your local swimming pool.

Things you can do to help keep swimming pools disease free.

Change your baby's diapers frequently. Always check the diaper before the child enters the water.
Take young kids for "potty" breaks frequently.
Make sure to shower well BEFORE and AFTER going swimming in a public pool.
Don't use the water fountains at public pools.
Try hard not to swallow pool water.
Remember that whatever is on your body will end up in the swimming pool water.

This isn't aimed at scaring people away from public swimming pools. It is meant as a heads up on what diseases might be lurking in your public swimming pools. Practice good hygiene and pray others do the same.

sources:
CDC Report
EHA group diseases