Public Pools or Fecal Pools?

It's summer time in Arizona and the weather is perfect for a swim in a pool. My neighbors children are in their pool everyday and I can just hear the joy of a refreshing dip in the pool or a rousing game of marco-polo.

But if you're like me and you don't have a pool in your backyard, then chances are you're packing up the kids and heading down to your local public pool. With no intent on scaring your public pool experience, survey says 7 out of 10 public pool users do not rinse off before cannon balling into a public pool. Resulting in a sids bath of sweat, cosmetics, blood and yes... feces accompanying that award winning cannon ball. Source Yahoo News

Of course many public pools, like some in Glendale, AZ require you to rinse off immediately after you pay your $3 to get in. However that doesn't mean it's still 100% germ free.

When you arrive at a public pool if you smell a high concentrate of chlorine, the chemical used to destroy water surviving germs, there's a good chance the 16 year old ache survivor just dumped a bucket load into the pump because someone either noticed the alarming yellow trail or a crowd just forced their way through and only got drizzled by the overhead showerFe at the entrance. I'd be a little concerned. It's also not good for your skin or eyes, but not to worry about the chlorine because you're going to show off your amazing whale impersonation; floating on your back and shooting water out of your mouth. So you'll just swallow half of the old mans fecal matter.  Yeah, that chlorine doesn't sound so bad now does it?

Still, the modern - up to date - well maintained public pool pumps of today are designed to handle a high volume of "oopies" in the pool, but on a high swim day you can almost guarantee that pump is working overtime.

After speaking with an anonymous public pool employee, swimming days this year in Arizona are limited to 3 days out of the week for most pools. Hopefully enabling the pumps to clear out the biological warfare unleashed on the pools.

Enjoy your summer, I'll be running through the sprinklers.