And urine is typically clean and sterile. True, nitrogen compounds in urine can react with chlorine in pools and cause eye or respiratory tract irritation in some people. If someone experiences red eyes or wheezing, they might find a saltwater pool a better choice.
A short video produced recently by the American Chemical Society answers the question, “Is it OK to Pee in the Ocean?” with a resounding “yes!” Ocean swimmers, relax, and know that your, eh, “contribution” is processed by the marine environment.
Being in a pool containing pee doesn't sound appealing, but it isn't dangerous. Chlorine is added to swimming pools to kill germs, including microbes that are present in pee. A well-managed pool should destroy any harmful bacteria from urine.
Not only is it disgusting, but urine in pool water also fosters the formation of harmful chemicals. As soon as body oils meet sweat, chlorine, and urine, DBP's (disinfection byproducts) start to arise. Organic matter from our bodies mixing with chlorine allows these DBP's to form and harm our health.
Chemical Reaction
When somebody pees in your pool, that pH level is altered. Chlorine and urine combine to form by-products called chloramines, which among other things, use up the chlorine which is better used to kill germs and bacteria.
Urine is sterile, so there should be nothing for chlorine to "kill". Instead, urine must be oxidized. One chemical in urine is particularly difficult to oxidize: urea, or uric acid. Urea (CH4N2O) will break down into other nitrogen compounds like ammonia, which will combine with chlorine to form chloramines.
Chlorine reacts with urine to form a host of potentially toxic compounds called disinfection byproducts. These can include anything from the chloramines that give well-used pools the aforementioned odor, to cyanogen chloride, which is classified as a chemical warfare agent.
There is currently no such urine indicator dye that exists. "Chlorine and other disinfectants are added to a swimming pool to destroy germs. Peeing in a pool depletes chlorine and actually produces an irritant that makes people's eyes turn red," said Michele Hlavsa, chief of the CDC's Healthy Swimming Program.
While this may seem merely unappealing, a 2014 study suggested that urine can actually combine with the chlorine disinfectant in swimming pool water to make potentially harmful chemicals. The researchers recommend that all swimmers avoid urinating in swimming pools to prevent these chemicals from forming.
In one survey, at least 19 percent of adults admitted to having urinated in a swimming pool. Adults. Not kids. Another survey put that figure as high as 40 percent.
U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps even confessed back in 2012 that peeing in the pool is an acceptable thing to do. "I think everybody pees in the pool," Phelps told the Wall Street Journal. "It's kind of a normal thing to do for swimmers. When we're in the pool for two hours, we don't really get out to pee.
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are another culprit of swimming pool season. A UTI occurs when bacteria travels up the urethra and travels through the urine into the bladder. The offending bacteria can come from icky pool water, not showering after, or from sitting around in a damp bathing suit.
But don't abstain from peeing in the ocean because you think it attracts sharks. That's simply not true. We understand where the myth comes from. Sharks are legendary for their superior sense of smell.
While they can smell human urine, they aren't particularly interested in it. Any tasty, smelly odorant is likely to get a shark excited but their sense of smell is no better than that of a tuna, and tiny amounts will go unnoticed.
Disadvantages of Saltwater Pools
More complex than traditional pools, they often require experienced technicians even for minor problems. Salt can cause damage to some materials, so you may have to avoid using specific types of heaters, fixtures, underwater lighting, liners, and even some types of masonry work.
lifeguards are not above peeing in the pool.
“I know plenty of swim instructors who will relieve themselves in the pool because they don't have much time between lessons and they might be stuck in the water several hours,” Marek says.
Depending on your body type, allowing yourself to urinate while standing in the running water could be going against your body's methods for holding it when you need to. "From a pelvic floor perspective, the position for peeing in the shower is not conducive to pelvic floor relaxation," Jeffrey-Thomas told Buzzfeed.
Adult human urine is not sterile. The resident bacterial community may contribute to urinary health and disease in undiscovered ways.
Since sharks see contrast colors, anything that is very bright against lighter or darker skin can look like a bait fish to a shark. For this reason, he suggests swimmers avoid wearing yellow, white, or even bathing suits with contrasting colors, like black and white.
Any bodily fluid released into the water is likely detectable by sharks. A shark's sense of smell is powerful – it allows them to find prey from hundreds of yards away. Menstrual blood in the water could be detected by a shark, just like any urine or other bodily fluids.
Urine is 95 percent water and contains sodium and chloride. The ocean is around 96 percent water and has even higher concentrations of sodium and chloride.
Peeing in the ocean is totally fine, but don't pee in protected areas like reefs or smaller bodies of water, especially swimming pools.
Biochemist Stuart Jones explains that a person generally excretes 0.2L – 0.5L of urine at a time. This equals about three grams of urea. Even in if all the world's 7 billion people peed in the Atlantic Ocean at the same time, there would be a minuscule amount of urea, Popular Science estimates.
Generally, peeing in the ocean is totally fine, the ACS says – and it may even be beneficial to marine life, as the nitrogen in urea combines with water to produce ammonium, which feeds ocean plants.
Vibrio vulnificus is a bacterium that normally lives in warm seawater and is part of a group of vibrios that are called “halophilic” because they require salt.