Swimming Pool Chemicals
A CDC study raises some concerns about bacteria in public swimming pools. Photo: Kim Komenich,
Kathryn Roethel
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created some disturbing headlines when it revealed that 58 percent of public swimming pools contained E. coli bacteria. That’s right. The bacteria found in poop.
Forms of E. coli can cause diarrhea, vomiting and, in some cases, hospitalization. But the CDC report revealed only the presence of E. coli – not whether the bacteria was alive. Chlorine, when used properly – as it is in most public pools – kills E. coli very quickly. And the rate of pool-related disease is very low compared with the number of people who use pools.
Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chief of Pediatric Infectious Disease at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, agreed that risks of getting sick in public pools are relatively small, but she suggests precautions everyone can take, like showering with soap before and after the pool, not swimming if you have a stomach-related illness, and not swallowing pool water. She adds that parents should take little swimmers for frequent bathroom breaks and avoid changing diapers near pools.
Here are the numbers:
Less than 1 minute
The time it takes for chlorine to kill E. coli bacteria in swimming pools if the disinfectant levels are up to CDC standards. E. coli is the most common fecal contaminant in pools. Other, less common germs take longer to get rid of. For example, it takes chlorine 45 minutes to kill the parasite giardia and more than 10 days to kill the parasite cryptosporidium. Both of these can cause vomiting and diarrhea.
1 in 10
The number of public pool inspections in the United States that show unsuitable levels of chlorine, the CDC reports.
301 million
The cumulative number of times Americans over age 6 go swimming each year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
13,966
The number of pool- and water-park-related illnesses reported to the CDC in 2007 and 2008, the most recent time period for which data have been released. Sixty-five percent of these were related to parasites, and bacteria like E. coli caused 22 percent.
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