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#76461 - 11/09/06 11:57 PM Side effects of drinking pool water?
AROTC Offline
Addict

Registered: 05/06/04
Posts: 604
Loc: Manhattan
I've been looking around and both at home and at college it seems the biggest resevoirs of water if running water were to be lost are swimming pools. My parents have a pool in the back yard and there are a couple on campus. So, how safe is it to drink pool water? In the short term I doubt it would have any effects, but then again, the water here at school burns my eyes readily enough, so it could have an effect if drank in quantity. While at home, my mom's dog doesn't seem to have any problems drinking primarily out of the swimming pool.
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A gentleman should always be able to break his fast in the manner of a gentleman where so ever he may find himself.--Good Omens

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#76462 - 11/10/06 12:18 AM Re: Side effects of drinking pool water?
Malpaso Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 09/12/05
Posts: 817
Loc: MA
Pool water is a good source, as the chlorine should keep out a lot of bacteria. You'd need to boil it before drinking it to get rid of the chlorine.
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It's not that life is so short, it's that you're dead for so long.

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#76463 - 11/10/06 01:01 AM Re: Side effects of drinking pool water?
KenK Offline
"Be Prepared"
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 06/26/04
Posts: 2208
Loc: NE Wisconsin
The typical pool has a chlorine concentration ranging from 1 to 3 PPM (parts per million.

The typical drinking water has a chlorine concentration ranging from 0.2 to 3 PPM.

3 PPM of chlorine is very drinkable. I consider my pool as a ready source of 15,400 gallons of excellent drinking water. Unfortunately in winter the surface is likely to be frozen and the water won't have sufficient chlorine to be safe. If nothing else I could chip off some, melt it, and use household bleach to disinfect it as needed.

If the power was out, without filtering the water's particulates would likely increase over time, but it is still sterile - assuming the chlorine level is kept up (I use a floating device that holds chlorine tablets and doesn't require electricity to function). Pouring the water through a coffee filter would get rid of much of the paticulates.

When the chlorine in pools contacts organic matter, it forms something called chloramine - this is most likely the thing you smell - not the free chlorine that does the disinfecting. Chloramine smells a lot and burns eyes, and doesn't disinfect as well as free chlorine. Every once in a while the pool owner needs to "shock" the pool by temporarily bringing the chlorine concentration up to around 10-12 PPM. This removes the chloramines (converts chloramine to free chlorine, nitrogen gas, and water). After a short time the sun will "burn" off the extra chlorine and the chlorine level will return to a more normal 1-3 PPM.

There is your pool chemistry lesson for the day. Next week we will discuss how cyanuric acid - also called "stabilizer" or conditioner -acts as a sunscreen to prevent the sun's UV radiation from driving off chlorine from the pool

Ken K.

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#76464 - 11/10/06 05:44 AM Re: Side effects of drinking pool water?
AROTC Offline
Addict

Registered: 05/06/04
Posts: 604
Loc: Manhattan
How does boiling the water remove the chlorine? I've always assumed the chlorine is in the water as Cl^-1 ions similar to when salt NaCl is dissolved in water. Boiling salt water just makes the water saltier.
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A gentleman should always be able to break his fast in the manner of a gentleman where so ever he may find himself.--Good Omens

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#76465 - 11/10/06 06:01 AM Re: Side effects of drinking pool water?
Anonymous
Unregistered


ive accidentaly drank enough pool water that it doesnt affect me, so i could drink it if i had to.unless it was dirty or had pee in it.my dog also likes to drinks gallons of pool agua in the summer.

it only bothers me when it gets up your nose andburns! haha

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#76466 - 11/10/06 01:49 PM Re: Side effects of drinking pool water?
brandtb Offline
Addict

Registered: 11/26/04
Posts: 500
Loc: S.E. Pennsylvania
If I recall correctly, My mom's pool in Florida had something other than clorine in it to kill germs. I don't remember what it was, but the effect of drinking it may be different than drinking clorinated water.
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#76467 - 11/10/06 02:06 PM Re: Side effects of drinking pool water?
ironraven Offline
Cranky Geek
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 09/08/05
Posts: 4642
Loc: Vermont
I'm going to take a guess and say if it is used for pool water, it's not toxic. :P

Bactacil, something similiar sounding to that, is a non-chlorine alternative to chlorine that I've heard of. Does your mom do her own, or does she have a pool guy come over and take care of it? If the latter, ask them. If she does it herself, the cannister/box should have the manufacturer's telephone number on it- I'm sure they've been asked this question more than a few times.
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When a man dare not speak without malice for fear of giving insult, that is when truth starts to die. Truth is the truest freedom.

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#76468 - 11/10/06 02:11 PM Re: Side effects of drinking pool water?
ironraven Offline
Cranky Geek
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 09/08/05
Posts: 4642
Loc: Vermont
But salt is a dissolved solid, not a dissolved gas. Boiled water has the oxygen forced out of it by the heat, the same thing happens with the free chlorine.

Or, you can add ascobic acid (vitamin C), and give it a few minutes. There should be some nasty looking white flakes floating in your water- filter it, that preciptate (sp, it's early) is vitamin C bonding to the chlorine. Does the same thing with iodine. That's part of why I carry Emergen-C in my kits.
_________________________
-IronRaven

When a man dare not speak without malice for fear of giving insult, that is when truth starts to die. Truth is the truest freedom.

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#76469 - 11/10/06 02:16 PM Re: Side effects of drinking pool water?
Malpaso Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 09/12/05
Posts: 817
Loc: MA
Not sure how it's done, I'm not a chemist and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express. When you asked the question, I did some Googling and that was the recommendation.
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It's not that life is so short, it's that you're dead for so long.

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#76470 - 11/10/06 03:09 PM Re: Side effects of drinking pool water?
camerono Offline
Member

Registered: 02/19/05
Posts: 146
Ken,

COOL! Thanks for the education. I am looking forward to next weeks lesson.

Cameron
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