Keep Your Swimming Pool Kit Clean

PoolKits | April 25, 2014

Your Next Swim Could Be Your Worst!

Your swimming pool is a blue, sparkling, pristine oasis in an otherwise boring trend of back yards where there is nothing better to do than sit on a chaise lounge. No, in your back yard, you have a personal gym, a masseuse, a way to cool down in the summer, and a great centerpiece for any party – after all, who doesn’t love a pool party? The problem is…

Unless you are on top of keeping your pool kit clean, it poses a greater danger to you than any other element of your home. Lurking in that water are a variety of substances, bacteria, chemicals, and more, waiting to infect you and anyone who gets into your pool. What, pray tell, could possibly be in your pool? After all, you put chlorine in it occasionally, and you have a filter, and there aren’t any leaves or dirt in your pool, so what’s the problem? Your pool is clear and clean and ready for swimming!

Everybody Does It

First of all, there are feces. Yes, we don’t like to think about it, but the average swimmer contributes – according to the Centers for Disease Control – at least 0.14 grams of fecal matter to pool water, and typically within the first 15 minutes of entering the pool. In fact, a CDC report found that nearly one in eight pubic pools posed serious violations that threatened public health, resulting those pools be immediately shut down. We’re all thankful for that, but just remember: every time you get into your pool, you’re… “contributing.”

Feces are just the start of it, though. The CDC sampled water from 161 pools in the Atlanta area alone, and each showed signs of E. coli, the bacteria most commonly associated with the aforementioned and apparently very popular fecal matter. While kids can occasionally be pointed to as the culprits, adults share their fair amount of blame as well – after all, do you rinse with soap and water before entering the pool every time? If not, then you are introducing fecal matter, and therefore potentially E. coli, every time.

Cryptosporidium, otherwise known as Crypto, is a parasite that can cause a diarrheal disease. The biology of the parasite is such that it can survive in chlorine-treated water for up to ten days, meaning that even a well-maintained pool can contain it. The leading cause of pool-related diseases, the best way to prevent Crypto from spreading is good hygiene at the pool!

Keep Your Swimming Pool Kit Clean

We Didn’t Start the RWIs

Other recreational water illnesses, or RWIs, are commonly caused by germs that can be spread by swallowing contaminated water in any body of water, including in-ground swimming pool kits, hot tubs, water parks, lakes, and even oceans. The most common RWI is diarrhea, but others include infections of the gastrointestinal system, your skin, your ears, your respiratory system, your eyes, or a wound.

Why? Well, chlorine and the other disinfectants used to keep a pool clean do not instantly kill germs. Furthermore, when urine and sweat is mixed with the chlorine in a pool, it uses up part of the chlorine in the pool already, chlorine that would otherwise have killed the RWI-causing germs.

Enough About Problems, What About Solutions?

Keep Your Swimming Pool Kit Clean!

How to clean a GREEN POOL "THE SWAMP" in 3 days

So, what’s the solution if you don’t want to risk becoming violently ill every time you go swimming? Well, first, wash your hands often, both before and after swimming. Shower as well, for good measure! Beyond staying clean yourself, you can protect yourself by avoiding swallowing pool water – yes, it is hard to do so sometimes, but you must try your best!

Of course, the best way to avoid all of the aforementioned illnesses is by having a in-ground swimming pool kit of your own and taking extra-special care of it. Staying on top of the chlorine treatment, making sure the filter is clean, regularly scrubbing the walls and floor of the pool kit, and other precautionary measures will ensure that your own pool kit is much cleaner than the public pools surveyed by the CDC. Ultimately, it is up to you to protect your own health! You can help keep your pool clean by also providing – and insisting upon – a separate shower for swimmers, and checking your children for illness before they enter the pool (if you have any!). With that said, don’t let your fear of disease stop you from having fun; all of these illnesses are very easy to avoid with these simple, easy-to-implement practices! Pool Warehouse, the swimming pool kit pros!

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