There is Urine in your swimming pool

If you like to swim laps, or spend summer days poolside, you'll want to read this. A new study in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters suggests the average pool may contain a great deal of urine. Researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada set out to determine the extent of pee contamination in swimming pools. To do this, they tested water from pools and hot tubs in two Canadian cities for acesulfame potassium, or Ace-K, a widely consumed artificial sweetener found in supermarket staples like frozen meals, packaged cookies, and diet sodas. What does sweet pool water have to do with pee? The amount of Ace-K in a pool is a helpful measure of the amount of urine present, since the ingredient is not metabolized by the body, is excreted exclusively through urine, and doesn't get broken down by chlorine. When researchers compared the levels of the sweetener in pool water and tap water, they found that the former contained up to 570 times more Ace-K. Based on those concentrations, they concluded that a 220,000-gallon commercial-size swimming pool likely contains almost 20 gallons of urine. A residential pool probably holds about two gallons.