Olympian Michael Phelps pees in the pool.
And he says everybody does it, too.
But the survey from the WSJ article indicates that everybody doesn’t—or at least, they don’t own up to it, because 37.7% of respondents say they never do.
Of course, we don’t have the Democrat/Republican split. And is it all adults, or just likely voters?
Previous surveys (I know, I know; this is bordering on too much information) indicate that pool pee-ers (pool peeers?) only number about one in six of respondents (17%), although 78% believe (correctly, I suppose) that other people do it. As for the science of it all, there’s this:
Urine—as well as sweat and even sunscreen—contain nitrogen, which eats up a pool’s free chlorine. Free chlorine is what kills waterborne germs that could make you sick if ingested. So if too many people are peeing in the pool or diving in while sweaty, that could mean less chlorine’s available to wipe out nasty critters.
Worrying about this is not my top priority. Plus, I don’t hang out in public pools very often any more.
But I will close by noting that there’s a potent motivation for peeing in the pool: it’s cold to get out, and taking off that wet bathing suit and trying to shoehorn yourself back into it is remarkably arduous.
Previously a lifelong Democrat, born in New York and living in New England, surrounded by liberals on all sides, I've found myself slowly but surely 
August 14th, 2012 at 11:33 am
If an olympic pool volume is 2,500,000 liters and 10 people pee in it simultaneously, each with an output of 250 ml, the concentration of urine, disregarding the fact the urine is 95% water, is 1.0 ppm. If the nitrogen concentration in urine is roughly 1%, the added nitrogen in the pool water is one part in 100 million. Or one part in a billion for each individual who pees in the pool.
Lenny Bruce’s definition of a gentleman is a man who steps out of the shower to pee.
August 14th, 2012 at 11:53 am
I can’t imagine, frankly, that ANYONE gets out of the pool to pee. Too much trouble!
A confession: when I walk the neighbor’s dog, I can’t be bothered to scoop up her poop — unless, that is, there’s someone watching. I feel that I’ve already used up all my goodness by volunteering to walk her in the first place. My Goodometer is on F, and everyone knows it’s not good to top up the tank.
August 14th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
fmt: plus, I always thought pool levels of chlorine were tested and adjusted fairly frequently.
A lot of people are more upset about the idea of others peeing in the pool than about the actual science of it.
August 14th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
“But I will close by noting that there’s a potent motivation for peeing in the pool: it’s cold to get out, and taking off that wet bathing suit and trying to shoehorn yourself back into it is remarkably arduous.”
My solution? Get rid of the swim suit and skinny dip. We’ll allow you as many as three green apples.
August 14th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
To pee or not to pee, that is the question.
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer…
August 14th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Don’t mess with the classics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPxiXGr9nFM&feature=related
It’s a lot easier for guys to get and go. We’ll give you gals a pass as long as you swish the water around a bit.
August 14th, 2012 at 2:47 pm
People who do questionable things usually think that “everybody does it.” Remember those tests companies used to give prospective employees that kept asking stupid-looking questions like “True or false: Most people steal from their employers?” They were actually pretty good at spotting risky hires.
August 14th, 2012 at 3:23 pm
I assume freshwater fish pee too. No one seems to mind swimming in and imbibing water with fish pee.
August 14th, 2012 at 3:54 pm
To repeat a joke from the 80s: “WASPs are the only ones to get out of the shower to pee.”
August 14th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
If convenient I try to make the trip to the can, but as fmt noted, it’s sterile and insignificant. (Besides both ends of your gut are also in the water and dirtier.)
As a science fiction fan, it does raise other questions when it comes to reusing bodily fluids. To paraphrase, nobody can hear you pee in outer space pools–there aren’t any. (Sorry)
August 14th, 2012 at 7:04 pm
There be chlorine in them thar pools, lost of chlorine.
August 14th, 2012 at 10:44 pm
If I pee in my pool, well, it is MY pool. I have not been to a public pool in decades d/t minority teen rowdiness, making it a poor place for young kids, which I then had. The chemical thinking cited above is proof enough of the innocence of the act
The getting out of the shower quip was originally directed against a very uptight living political figure, possibly Anthony Eden, possibly said by W Churchill, though it might have been LBJ said it about someone else. There’s a faint bell going off in my mind.
August 15th, 2012 at 12:09 am
From a couple of years ago, I remember Vanderleun’s “Urine Luck” photo of a Chinese swimming pool packed beyond capacity with little kids and their parents. It’s likely there was more pee than plain water in that pool.
August 15th, 2012 at 10:28 am
Fresh chlorine (sodium hypochlorite), in a well-adjusted and chemically balanced pool, has no (or very little) oder. What people think of as a chlorine smell is actually chloramines, a byproduct of the reaction of the free chlorine with various organic compounds in the water, including pee. Thus, a pool witha strong chlorine smell is actually a pool with a lot of pee (and other things) in it.
August 15th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
Not only do fish pee in the water they mate in it. We survive that so what’s a little urine in a big tank of chrlorine and water?
August 15th, 2012 at 8:03 pm
Ok – I swam competitively for 10 years and didn’t pee in the pool. Never have. Why? Because when you’re busting your butt in workouts, you can’t help swallowing water. A lot of it. And if you watch every swimmer after a race, he’s spitting water out- it’s almost a reflex to do that. Don’t know why, but you do it without thinking. Maybe I should rethink my admiration for these knuckleheads.
August 15th, 2012 at 10:18 pm
>>> But I will close by noting that there’s a potent motivation for peeing in the pool: it’s cold to get out, and taking off that wet bathing suit and trying to shoehorn yourself back into it is remarkably arduous.
Prob. this is less so for guys… I confess, I’ve never considered the issue, but can’t women just pull the crotch part aside? If it works for impulse sex it seems like it ought to work for peeing.
Also:
>>> A lot of people are more upset about the idea of others peeing in the pool than about the actual science of it.
Indeed. This is the real crux of it. There was an episode of Seinfeld where George goes nuts over someone peeing in the shower.
And:
>>> I assume freshwater fish pee too. No one seems to mind swimming in and imbibing water with fish pee.
along with:
>>> Not only do fish pee in the water they mate in it.
LOL, this is actually a classic W.C. Fields comment — “I don’t drink water, fish fornicate in it.”
No, I don’t think he ever actually said it in a film.
This is the closest I can get you.
More directly OT:
Unless one is abnormally sick (VERY sick, as in “Why aren’t you in the hospital?” sick), urine is sterile. The ammonia content of urine is just as hostile to bacteria as the chorine is. There ARE, hence, no “germs” in the urine itself. In a pinch, in the field, peeing on your hands is a fairly decent way to sanitize your hands, lacking a more standard means. So the only concern with regards to peeing in the pool is really much more to do with the neutralizing the chlorine, and, as fmt notes, the quantity of this done by a full bladder, even in something the size of an above-ground pool, would be very nominal.
August 15th, 2012 at 10:47 pm
People, people, people!
You make me thank God, once again, that I was a country club kid. NO ONE peed in the pool.
GROSS.
Never mind the chemistry: do you want to drink someone else’s piss? Gag!
Never peed in the pool. Never peed in the shower: had a boyfriend who lived in a house with the band, and they all did: and the shower stank of it. GROSS.
But I did finally learn to pee in the ocean, thanks to going to the beach in NYC and being so far from the (incredibly nasty) public jakes that even this fastidious WASP couldn’t hack it. (Yes, honey, you do tweak your suit to one side, and try not to think of Miss Manners!)
August 16th, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Beverly you’re welcome in my pool anytime. But for the rest of you jokers….the neo-neocon Texas pool party bash is officially cancelled.
August 16th, 2012 at 10:19 pm
Never, not once. But anybody who spends hours upon hours in the pool, like Phelps, gets a pass from me.
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