So over half of our monitored rivers are too polluted for swimming, according to No swimming: 52% impure NZ rivers. That's unwelcome news especially as summer is rapidly approaching. Oh well, at least we can still head down to the local pool to cool off.
Actually, you may need to rethink that too. An early scene in Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3: Dog Days reminded me why I avoid public swimming pools. The movie showed a crowded pool and from the faraway expressions on many of the swimmers' faces you just knew they were emptying their bladders into the water.
Urinating in pools is just one unsavoury part of the communal bathing experience. Back when I used to venture into such facilities I also recall being grossed out by clumps of hair and sticking plasters drifting past in their unhygienic glory. I've also heard of toilet paper being found in a pool. Luckily though, I've never witnessed a Code Brown - otherwise known as a floater. These are industry terms for poop in the pool, an event far more common that you would hope.
In the Scientific American blog How do germs get into the swimming pool? You might not want to know we learn a new term for such an incident: accidental faecal release (AFR for short) and discover that a study conducted by a US microbiologist found "the average bather releases 50 milliliters of urine and a liter of sweat per hour".
The New Zealand Herald article linked above says, "Health effects from swallowing water tainted with faecal micro-organisms or other bacteria can... include diarrhoea or vomiting, and infections of the eye, ear, nose and throat".
