More decidedly non-palaeo places to avoid like the plague

[TylerDurden]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4272084/There-75-litres-urine-average-public-pool.html

I used to swim in public swimming-pools which were heavily  chlorinated, like the YMCA etc. I would quickly develop severely reddened, dried-out  eyes afterwards. I now realise that this was due to all the urine present combining with the chlorine to form various irritants. What disgusts me is the sheer  eagerness of people to urinate(or worse) into public swimming-areas. I recall, as a child, one migrant  7 year old child who actually shat in a local Viennese swimming-pool - the guard forced the mother to pick the stuff out of the pool. I recall another incident, where a relative of mine actually stated that she was soon going to urinate right where we were swimming in a  natural rock-pool, part of a pristine, unpolluted mountain-stream within an area of wild, untouched Nature. I yelled at her not to in my disgust, but she was such a spoiled brat that she probably did it anyway. Anyway, I would recommend swimming in ponds with lots of vegetation in them, as the reeds etc. apparently manage to slowly disperse any toxic substances like urine, over time.

[ys]

I thought in Europe they don't use chlorine anymore, but some other disinfectant.

Why do you say urine is toxic?  Shouldn't it be sterile (in healthy people anyway)?  Lot's of people even drink it.

[TylerDurden]

No, they still use chlorine copiously in Europe. And, judging from the endless times I got bloodshot eyes afterwards, the pools hardly ever recycled their water. And urine-consumption is hardly healthy. I mean, one hears about people who do this in the desert when faced with water-shortages/drought,  and it doesn't end well.

The real problem is the short-term selfishness/laziness that afflicts modern people. I mean, pissing into a pool should be punished very severely. Come to think of it, there is that "logging" craze:-

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/inbetweeners-inspired-logging-trend-sees-5963239

Perhaps small traces of a urine-sensitive chemical could be put into swimming-pools so that anyone who urinates into them immediately creates a purplish cloud or whatever so as to be instantly detectable.

[RogueFarmer]

Fuck swimming pools, urine is a way nicer substance than chlorine. I hear they do have that purple stuff in Florida!

[dariorpl]

Even if urine was not unhealthy if coming from a healthy animal, I still don't want it in my swimming pool. And most human bodies are very heavily toxic and frequently if not constantly discharging all sorts of poisons.

Still, I think I would choose that over the chlorine.

I'm not sure what I think about the purple turning chemical. It's probably not a healthy thing so it's dubious whether that will reduce or increase water toxicity.

It's interesting what the researchers said about urea mixing with chlorine to form something even more toxic than chlorine itself.

We should however consider that urea is also present in smaller quantities in sweat. So that poses more problems even.