While I appreciate the intimacy I have with so many friends through Facebook, Twitter andYouTube, it’s no real revelation that anyone pees in the pool.
Competitive swimmers have been letting out the yellow cloud as long as I can remember. It was a given, a fact of our two to six hour a day aquatic life. Your hair would surely be chlorine-burnt, your skin permanently itchy, and you knew the hydrating fluids you sucked down would ultimately recirculate through the body of liquid in which you swam.
I have my own peeing stories and history. I rarely left the pool to pee. My first coach said, “True champions never stop training. They keep their heart-rates high and urinate while they’re swimming.”
I never mastered the ability to actually pee while in motion, pulling and kicking. I always had to cling to the wall and use the aid of a heated jet-stream.
I remember one swimmer, a girl back in boarding school (The Mercersburg Academy), who used to urinate on deck into a tiny drain right before racing. She said, “I just sit on the drain (which was in front of the starting blocks) and tee tee. That way I’m lighter, the lightest I can possibly be before I compete.”
“Right out in the open?” I asked her in disbelief.
“No one can see,” she added causally. “I’m sitting criss-cross applesauce directly above the drain’s metal grill when I tee tee.”
I believe it’s commonly held that competitive swimmers are a funny bunch, a truly weird tribe of water-logged people. I, for one, love how free we are about our bodies, even when it comes to peeing.
For the recreational version of peeing in the pool, this video pretty well explains things:
For the URBAN LEGEND about the urine-detecting chemical that creates a red dye when you pee in the pool, this video is comprehensive:
Laura Whotton, 26, was rebuked by a staff member at the John Carroll Leisure Centre in Nottingham when she tried to feed her 11-week-old son, Joshua.
Mrs Whotton, from the Carrington area of the city, said that she was trying to feed the boy while also keeping an eye on her four-year-old son, Thomas, who was swimming.
Nottingham City Council blamed “confusion” over the wording of the rules for the centre and has apologised to the young mother.
Mrs Whotton told the Nottingham Evening Post: “People in bikinis were showing more skin and breast than I was.”
She added: “When it happened, it made me feel angry. It could put people off going swimming.”
But regulations have been redrafted over the weekend to make clear that breastfeeding is allowed and new guidelines have been issued to staff.
A spokeswoman for the council said: “Nottingham City Council actively encourages and supports nursing mothers to breastfeed in all our centres and was one of the first local authorities to provide guidance in support of a mother’s right to breastfeed.
“We have clarified the policy at our leisure centres to make it absolutely clear that someone breastfeeding should not be treated the same as someone who is eating and drinking in the swimming pool areas.”
The Government’s new Equality Bill, currently before the House of Commons, includes new measures to enshrine the right of mothers to breastfeed in public places.
Last year Charlotte Church, the singer, added her support to a campaign to encourage mothers in Wales to breastfeed their babies.
When water from the shower, dishwasher, or washing-machine is drained into the sewer-pipes, it’s not just a waste of water, but a waste of the energy used to heat that water. In fact, the water in city pipes averages a temperature of 68°F–energy-produced heat that is simply wasted. This unused energy pestered folks in one French town so much that they decided to put it to good use… and now it heats their swimming pools.
A Green Town and a Green Councilwoman Levallois-Perret, a suburb of Paris, is on the forefront of the local greening efforts. Their pool-heating system has done wonders in cutting energy costs and reducing their carbon emissions. Plus, now they can swim year-round–that’s nice too.
How does a town get the notion to undertake such a great green idea? Well, it all starts with one person–in this case, it was Sophie Deschiens. She’s the town’s Environment Councilwoman, and she is efficient:
When I heard the amount of heat lost in the sewers, I decided I had to do something.
Her dedication to make her town less wasteful led Deschiens across the world in search of a solution, which she found in the form of a technology that allows heat to be recovered from the sewers.
Capturing the Sewage’s Heat is Easy
Such a system actually works quite simply. A series of stainless steel plates is attached to the bottom of the sewer pipes, equipped with a special liquid that captures the heat, according to a report in O Estado. That captured heat can then transferred to be used to warm something else.
Deschiens first thought was of a new aquatic center being built in the city, and that the system could be used to heat its pools, spas, and jacuzzis. In fact, the heat captured from the sewer-pipes would be enough to heat the center’s water to a piping 85°F all year.
With this in mind, she teamed up with a local business and able to get the project approved. Although it was a bit pricey at $650 thousand, Deschien expects the project will pay itself off in a decade. It’s also expected to reduce the city’s energy costs a whopping 24% and bring a drop of 66% in greenhouse gas emissions.
Where is Your Sewage Heat Going?
Just a few days ago, the system became operational–and the town’s public swimming pool is now heated by the town’s sewage. Deschiens, perhaps while taking a dip in the water she helped warm, is urging others to follow the example set by her little town:
If other cities want to copy the system, we are happy.
Five years ago, Rich Mason’s friends lamented the numerous frogs and toads that turned up in their backyard swimming pool skimmer baskets, dead or impaired from the chemicals. One particularly warm, rainy night yielded more than 50 amphibian casualties, they reported.
Mason, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, began asking around, and other pool-owning friends also complained of amphibian death tolls. Occasionally, frogs were spotted swimming, or balanced on the floating balls that keep pool vacuum hoses afloat.
“Frogs seek anything to get out of the water,” says Mason, who lives near Annapolis, Md. “It just killed me that these frogs were dying.” These aquatic animals don’t drown in pools; the chlorine seeps into their permeable skin and poisons their bloodstreams. When an amphibian accidentally jumps in, it swims to the pool’s wall and bumps along until it finds something to climb onto. A frog could be dead within hours if it doesn’t find an exit. “Being a wildlife biologist, I thought, this doesn’t seem right,” Mason says.
While pools pose little danger to populations of common frogs and toads, rarer species have more to lose. For some endangered frog species in California and other parts of the country, Mason says, losing a few individuals could threaten populations.
Now, after years of design and testing, Froglog is a patent-pending invention that provides amphibians — as well as small mammals such as chipmunks — an escape route from pools. A thick foam tile with angled edges allows a small creature to crawl up out of the water; then a plastic mesh ramp, stabilized by two thin pieces of plastic (cut from vinyl siding) leads to the pool’s deck, where a beanbag-sized, canvas bag full of sand holds the contraption in place.
Like any good inventor, Mason did his homework first: He searched for research or studies that might have been done on amphibians and pools, but came up empty-handed. He even tapped into a network of herpetologist friends, and though anecdotal stories surfaced, the subject has been untouched by science.
,
He scouted for other devices on the market that help animals escape swimming pools, and found one designed for larger animals, such as dogs and cats, that had to be drilled into the concrete pool deck. “I thought for most people, that wasn’t the answer,” he says.
So Mason formed the first Froglog from scrap foam and canvas from a local boating shop. A tinkerer at heart, Mason even fashioned a guillotine-like device using a can-crusher to punch a slot for the mesh ramp through the foam, which he shaped with a table saw, band saw and router. He tested and tweaked the design for size, shape and flexibility, allowing for varying water levels in pools, and built a funneled trap at the top of one Froglog to test if his invention was working. It was: In one night he found a handful of frogs waiting safely in the trap.
Mason regularly sells a couple hundred Froglogs each summer. Selling the $21 device is not a moneymaking venture — only now is Mason barely breaking even with his initial $15,000 investment. Instead, Mason sells Froglogs because he believes frogs shouldn’t needlessly perish in swimming pools.
“My main goal is to have it more widely used,” Mason says. “It’s doing some good.”
Customers hail from around the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. And though the Froglog works for chipmunks and moles, one European company requested that Mason design a version sturdy enough for hedgehogs.
“We need to get into the tropics, too,” he says, because of the large diversity of amphibians and large number of swimming pools at hotels and resorts. Mason’s next move for his fledgling business may be to link up with a large international swimming pool supply company that would launch Froglogs around the world.
You may have a dog, cat or other pet that loves adventuring around your yard, but a swimming pool can be dangerous for some animals who can’t find or use the stairs that were designed for people.
There are some great products on the market that are specifically designed to keep your pets safe.
The animal pool ramp:
A scamper ramp is plastic ramp designed to make it easy for your pet or any other animal to find and climb up and out of your pool. This ramp is easily installed to the pools edge and also allows for small critters like Frogs and snakes to also find thier way out of your pool and no longer end up in the skimmer baskets.
Alarm:
Safety Turtle is a sensor that attached to your pet along with a receiver alarm on shore that alerts you when a pet has entered the water. The sensor can be attached to the pets collar and can operate from up to 100 feet away.
Life Jacket:
For dogs that need assistance in the pool a safety life jacket is another option, these custom tailord life jackets fit onto your dogs back and strap onto their chest allow free movement of their legs. These will help keep you dog afloat but still allowing them to swim freely.
Swimming may not exactly be a healthy exercise at the city’s four civic-run pools, according to a new survey.
After surveying more than 500 people, the Government Dental College at Fort has found that a majority of their subjects - who regularly used the pools - suffer from tooth erosion. And the worst affected are children and teenagers.
The reason for this, finds the study, is the high level of chlorine in the pools.
Dr Mansingh Pawar, dean of the college, said, “Many patients who complain of teeth erosion are regular swimmers at civic pools. In order to understand the link, we decided to conduct the study.”
The study was started seven months ago, when students from the college visited the four pools - at Dadar, Chembur, Ghatkopar and Kandivli. They interviewed regulars from different age groups.
Throwing light on the results, Dr Pawar added, “We have concluded that regular swimmers at civic pools are at a higher risk of developing tooth erosion, especially younger swimmers.”
Though Dr Pawar refused to divulge the figures and the exact details, he said the study will be published in the college dissertation next month.
However, the civic body has taken serious not of the findings. “We have come to understand that chlorine is doing harm to the swimmers, so we have decided to stop using chlorine in our four swimming pools. Instead, we plan to opt for ozone technology to clean the water,” said Chandrashekhar Rokade, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, in charge of BMC’s swimming pools.
The use of chlorine will be phased out as each of the pools in revamped.
How ozone technology works
Ozone is a form of active oxygen that is a natural purifier with no harmful chemical by-products. It is a powerful oxidiser, and is widely used in swimming pools as an alternative to chlorine.
Regulars, particularly children and teenagers, are at a higher risk of tooth erosion
Dental erosion
Dental erosion, also known as tooth erosion, is the irreversible loss of tooth enamel, which is the hard tissue that covers and protects the tooth. It is caused by chemical action, not bacterial.
The erosion can range in severity - in its mildest form, it leads to sensitivity, whereas in a more severe form, it can lead to cracking of teeth.
During warm sunny afternoons, one of the most refreshing and relaxing activities that people can do is to take a nice cool dip in the swimming pool. On the other hand, some pools are designed to provide warmth and relaxation to the human body, such as the case of spa pools and hot tubs. Pools come in different forms, some of the most common of which are exercise pools, infinity pools and hot tubs. In addition to these interesting facts, there are more to know about this enjoyable recreational water facility including the world’s biggest swimming pool.
The Biggest Swimming Pool in the World
The biggest swimming pool in the world is the San Alfonso del Mar, which can be found in Algarrobo, Chile. It has a length of 3,280.84 feet or 1,000 meters. The total area covered by the outdoor pool is 19 acres. It is currently the largest in the world, based on the details gathered by the Guinness World Records. Aside from this, it is also considered the deepest pool in the world today, with a depth of 115 feet or 35 meters.
Additional Facts and Other Interesting Details
San Alfonso del Mar uses a special technology invented by Crystal Lagoons. It makes use of water from the Pacific Ocean, which the technology pumps, filters and treats before people can swim in the pool. The place offers guests a unique, fun and memorable experience they will surely remember for the rest of their lives.
Some of the major features of San Alfonso del Mar include fun-filled outdoor water activities, access to an ocean aquarium and affordable apartments for rent. In this place, guests are treated well. The place has a very accommodating staff, comprised of individuals who are ready to answer the various needs of resort guests.
The biggest indoor pool is found within the City of Houston in Texas, which is actually part of the Neutral Buoyancy Lab of the Sonny Carter Training Facility at the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Meanwhile, the biggest indoor wave pool in the North American region is found right inside the West Edmonton Mall within the province of Alberta in Canada.
In the U.S., the biggest pool ever established was the Fleishhacker Pool, which opened in April 1925. To patrol the place, it was necessary for lifeguards to use kayaks. It measured 980 by 150 feet or 300 by 45 meters. However, the place shut down in 1971 because of low patronage.
The sight of a gator caused a splash at one pool in Port Arthur, Texas. But the owner of Gator Country jumped right into a residential swimming pool and wrestled the unwanted alligator.
