Who Peed in the Pool?

22 May Who Peed in the Pool?

Come On In. The Water’s Fine (Mostly).

From The New York Times

This is a subject that is like an elephant in the room, but it is actually more serious than most people think.  This article about uriniating in the pool is both surprising and scary.  It seems like an innocent act, and according to studies, most people do it.  Unfortunately, there can be serious health consequences from doing so.  

Here is an excerpt from the post:

 As summer approaches, many of us are looking ahead to languid days by the pool. New research, alas, suggests many of them are laced with something other than water.

Though we all suspect it’s there, it’s not easy to assess how much urine there is in a particular swimming pool (the existence of a chemical that changes color when you pee is an urban legend). But it is not an insignificant public health question.

So a team of chemists at the University of Alberta in Canada has devised a new way to estimate the amount by measuring levels of an artificial sweetener commonly present in people’s urine.

The scientists sampled 29 pools and hot tubs in British Columbia and Alberta, and found the artificial sweetener, called acesulfame potassium, in every one.\

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