Photo by Seattle Municipal ArchivesHere’s something that has been handed down from generation to generation for ages. They say that if you pee in the swimming pool then there’s a special chemical that will turn the water the color of the deep blue sea. Thus notifying everyone that you just did your business in the pool!
Then of course it sends everyone running for the hills trying to escape your wasteful wrath. Parents have used this explanation for ever in hopes their kids will think twice before relieving themselves in the swimming pool.
But the real question is, is there really a chemical in the swimming pool that will turn the water blue when mixed with urine?
The Myth of Urine and the Blue Pool
I’m sure many of you have seen the movie Grown Ups. There a specific scene in that movie where Kevin James and his daughter are swimming in a public pool. Well he’s just been explaining to her that there is no such thing as the chemical that turns the pool water blue when someone pees in it. Just about that time you begin to see a huge blue cloud forming from around his waste, or should I say waist! lol
But the fact of the matter is, in reality, he is correct, there really isn’t any chemical that will do this, and it would be quite hard to create one for that matter. I’ll go into more detail on the reasons for this…
The Chemistry Behind a Urine Reactive Chemical
In high school chemistry class we all learned how to use pH test strips to test for the presence of acid and alkaline substances. These test strips would change color depending on the specific levels of these substances that were present.
But urine is not your average “water substance”. You can not test the pH levels in urine with a test strip. This is because the pH levels in urine vary so much from person to person, that it would be impossible to set a “standard” pH level. Depending on what a person’s diet consists of and how much salt, time of day, all these things play a role in what the pH level would be.
The fact is, urine is basically water, but contains other things like urea, salt and creatinine. But all these things are also found in human sweat, therefore the probability that science would devise a test to detect urine is highly unlikely.
Would a Urine Detecting Chemical be Practical
Of course we all know that the biggest fear of swimming in a public pool is running into other people’s pee! And I know none of us like to think about it, or discuss it, but it really is there. There’s no way you could get a hundred people mixed with adults and children all in the same pool and absolutely no one would take the opportunity to relieve themselves. Children are especially prone to doing this simply because they don’t want to waste any of their precious “play time” going to the restroom. Truth be told, the adults are probably just as guilty of using the gigantic municipal restroom themselves! Yak!
But anyway, considering this, if there were a chemical that turned blue in the presence of urine, a municipal swimming pool would be blue all the time.
During a survey done by the Water Quality and Health Council in 2009, the concluded that 17% of American adults confessed to peeing in the pool. So you can imagine that this number would be just as high and probably higher for children. If they would ever admit to it that is.
And here’s a doozie, Michael Phelps, a 19 time gold medalist, himself admitted to taking a nice pee in the pool…
So, have you ever witnessed the pool turning blue? The fact that it’s never been seen is a sure fire lesson in the fact it does not exist.
What do you think about peeing in the pool? Is this something you should only do in your private pool, or is public the way to go? I’m kind of leaning toward, “Just go to the restroom you lazy arse!”
Oh God, we a;; heard these rumors about blue water but no one seen it in real..
Yah, it’s a good story to keep your kids from peeing in the swimming pool, but it doesn’t really exist. It’s a fun story though!
Amusing story! You just gave me a very nice idea. This could still work on my 6-year old daughter. lol.
Absolutely Emilia, that’s what is so great about these playful myths, they can live on through as many generations as you like. Remember to take a look at your daughters face when you tell her. 😮
I’ve never heard of that myth before, when I looked at the title of this post I thought it was just a joke / play on words 🙂
Oh and good work Phelps… 😀
hahah, yah I can see how the title could look that way. I was quite surprised myself to hear Phelps would desecrate his playground like that! 🙂
what a story about water turning blue on pee in swimming pool.nice idea it will helpful children’s mostly they are doing this.
This is true, but oddly enough, the percentage of adults taking part in this technique was rather high as well.
Funny.. very funny 🙂 That’s for the story. As for the peeing, my take is that just because a lot of people is doing it, doesn’t mean we have to follow as well.
Very well said Stacey!!! I definitely agree that “Monkey See, Monkey Do” need not apply in this situation…lol
Hi Robert Tuttle ,
Thanks for sharing the information,
Your tittle attracted me to see what exactly is this theory all about peeing in pool and water gets blue. But yes , something new to read ,
Cheers!
Great, I appreciate you stopping in to check it out. It’s been a widely used myth by parents for ages. Probably doesn’t stop the kids though, seems that would make them want to try it to see if it’s true…lol
very interesting,it turned yellow with me,but blue is fine too,good article,i loved it.
LOL, you’re a pretty funny dude Alex, so you actually tried it and found that it turned yellow? I appreciate you sharing your experiment with us! 😀
your welcome lol it was not a experiment,lol it was a call of nature,but in the clear water it went yellow dude lol saying this i had a little but of orange floating about,damm knows what that was dude hahaha maybe a dead jelly fish or a crabs,lolol so glad i never had that hey? hahahahah im scottish,live in fife near edinburgh,this explains a lot to you now,och aye the noo laddy boy lol
ROFL! Well at least that further proves my thoughts on the blue pool water being a total myth. As far as the orange goes, I’m totally baffled by that one! 😀
Great post, this really caught my eye because I am a very keen swimmer and have been swimming for many years, I actually always thought to this day that it was possible to put a chemical in the water to make it turn blue when you pee I just thought pools never bothered using it as tot save the embarrassment of the perpetrator, oh well I still think I would continue the myth, I guess it crates good habits!
You’re right, it does help to promote good manors and behaviors and that’s probably all it was ever intended to do. But I say YES to continuing the myth. That’s what myths are all about, plus it’s a lot of fun messing with folks on it.
Tell everyone that and watch how many jump out of the pool and meander towards the restroom…lol
DO you know if you will move in private pool then you can get whatever you want but if you are going for general pool there you will face such problem !! I think in that situation you should take action like that !! turn the water color then you will get too much interest !!!
Yah that’s very true, in order to avoid all chances of swimming into something that belongs to a stranger, I suppose the only action is to build your own swimming pool…lol
Quaint post, i got new idea about pee in pool Thanks for sharing
Thanks Zablss, preciate you taking the time to read and comment.