Ingestion of swimming pool water by recreational swimmers

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Dufour ◽  
T. D. Behymer ◽  
R. Cantú ◽  
M. Magnuson ◽  
L. J. Wymer

The volume of water ingested by swimmers while swimming is of great interest to individuals who develop risk assessments using quantitative microbial risk assessment or epidemiological approaches. We have used chloroisocyanurate disinfected swimming pool waters to determine the amount of water swallowed by swimmers during swimming activity. The chloroisocyanurate, which is in equilibrium with chlorine and cyanuric acid in the pool water, provides a biomarker, cyanuric acid, that once swallowed passes through the body into the urine unchanged. The concentration of cyanuric acid in a 24 hour urine specimen and the concentration in pool water can be used to calculate the amount of water swallowed. Our study population of 549 participants, which was about evenly divided by gender, and young and adult swimmers, indicated that swimmers ingest about 32 mL per hour (arithmetic mean) and that children swallowed about four times as much water as adults during swimming activities. It was also observed that males had a tendency to swallow more water than females during swimming activity and that children spent about twice as much time in the water than adults.

2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred P. Dufour ◽  
Otis Evans ◽  
Thomas D. Behymer ◽  
Ricardo Cantú

Chloroisocyanurates are commonly added to outdoor swimming pools to stabilize chlorine disinfectants. The chloroisocyanurates decompose slowly to release chlorine and cyanuric acid. Studies conducted to determine if the chloroisocyanurates might be toxic to swimmers showed that they were not and that ingested cyanuric acid passed through the body unmetabolized. This fact was used to determine the amount of water swallowed during swimming activity. Fifty-three recreational swimmers, using a community swimming pool disinfected with cyanuric acid stabilized chlorine, participated in the study. The participants did not swim on the day before or after the test swim. The swimmers were asked to actively swim for at least 45 minutes and to collect their urine for the next 24 hours. Cyanuric acid was measured in pool water using high performance liquid chromatography and porous graphitic carbon columns with UV detection. The urine sample assay required a clean-up procedure to remove urinary proteins and interfering substances. Results of the study indicate that non-adults ingest about twice as much water as adults during swimming activity. The average amount of water swallowed by non-adults and adults was 37 ml and 16 ml, respectively. The design for this study and the analytical methodology used to assay cyanuric acid in swimming pool water and human urine were effective for measuring the volume of water swallowed during swimming activity.


LWT ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 111201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prez Verónica Emilse ◽  
Victoria Matías ◽  
Martínez Laura Cecilia ◽  
Giordano Miguel Oscar ◽  
Masachessi Gisela ◽  
...  

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