Peeing In A Pool Is Gross, But Is It Really All That Bad? Here's What Science Says.

A 220,000-gallon pool might contain about 20 gallons of pee. Delightful.

You know you shouldn’t pee in the pool, but you probably do it anyway. But at what cost? Do you even know?

There are no hard-and-fast numbers on how often people pee in the pool, but at least one survey got 40% of American adults to admit to peeing in the pool. It doesn’t seem like they’re exaggerating: Older research published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters analyzed water samples from 31 pools and hot tubs and discovered that a 220,000-gallon pool contained about 20 gallons of pee.

With that, the odds of you swimming in pee this summer are high. While peeing in the pool is gross, is it really all that bad? What can happen if you or someone around you does this just once? In the name of science, we tapped a toxicologist, infectious disease physician and microbiologist to break it all down.

What happens when you peel in a pool?

A few things. The big issue is the interaction of urine with the chemicals in the pool. “When human urine combines with chemicals that are present in chlorinated swimming pools, potentially harmful compounds called disinfection byproducts, or DBPs, can form,” said Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, a toxicologist at MedStar Health.