Finest_G,

If you don't like the idea of going into a public gym, get your own pool. This may sound crazy to you, but when I was little we used to swim in the pools in the parks.They were clean, but swimmers would do so disgusting stuff there: some fo them urinated or jacked offin the, but strangely what kept out of the public pool was extremely silly and harmless. I just cannot forget about the Black Lady and those underarms she had. I was a kid, but it looked disgusting, like two big Christmas trees hanging from her arms(Her deoderant was showing). I was like"ewww" when I see them because I didn't quite understand the human anatomy until I got older, but still she relaly need to shave those arms! I got turned off by them and never wanted to ever swim another public public pool since them. Ironically, it was also when AIDS came out. Back then, nobody knew what it was, how it was spread, we only knew that it killed a number of men in the gay community( back then) that's another thing that scared me from swimming in there. Now that I'm better educated about AIDS, now the worse thing I'm worried about is E. Coli, yep! believe it or not I'm more concerned about E-Coli being in the water. One little boy used the bathroom in the pool and did #2 in it. A lot of children end up getting very sick because of it. It was said that the little had contacted the E-coli-virus from a hamburger ge ate prior to getting into the pool.

Im def not swimming in any pool again......after reading this thread.

I used to as a kid but as an adult....I definitely know better now

aww man! I knew a hygenophobe like myself shouldn't have opened a thread like this. I have always had my reservations about these things but this has just cliched it for me blkhide

I even know a swimming tutor who works at a certain swimming pool, thatwarned me not put my head under the water 'cause of all the yucky stuff in there. The cleaning efforts there are laughable

Yes i use public pools cos i love to swim and dive.

The hygiene issue is always a thought but what can you do. The only precaution i take is to wear my shower slippers everywhere. Up until now ive never had any health problems so the reward for me far outweighs the risk.

The bottom line here is that probably 99% of people use public baths(including the dutty ones)without suffering a risk to their health, so surely the worries we have are slightly over-exagerated most of the time.

Finest G has summed it up really. Generally the more you can afford to pay the cleaner your experience will be.

And then you have to think about the chemicals they put in the water to try to kill the germs!

I was in a hotel pool once in Scotland. There was so much chemicals in there my eyes were burning and my skin felt all dried out, it was terrible and unsafe! The thing is cleaning a pool is money so I'm sure most places don't clean theirs regularly enough. You know a public pool is going to be pissed in daily so they should be emptied and sterilised daily IMO!

i guess you are having a major hygene problem in the UK.

the only thing dangerous about public swimming pools is the massive amout of chlorine...chlorine kills it all and kids peeing in the pool is definately non-effective at all thanks to chlorine..



much ado about nothing..just put on your flip-flops outside the pool and everything is fine..over here you even have extra foot desinfectional showers in the bathrooms...so why all the fuss?

I would suspect that some of you people who complain about hygene in public pools bathe everyday to keep yourself fresh and healthy......some may shower of course, a far cleaner method.
But for those that bathe......think about it for a moment...........you run a bathfull of still water, that remains captive in the tub.
You then place two of the dirtiest parts of your bady into that water.....first your feet....then your backside and all the appendages associated with that part of your anatomy......say no more. You then then begin to wash the remaining parts of your body with this same water. Some people have particularly smelly feet, and all of us have the same bodily functions, and it is only after these parts of our bodies have entered the clean water first that we begin to wash the rest of our bodies.

A public pool is continually being cleaned by circulating the water and it is heavily treated (Too heavily) with chemicals to combat any potential infections.Most public pools are designed so that on entering the pool area you pass through a foot bath first.


My only complaint would be that too much chemicals are used in public pools, I have never heard of any life threatening deseases being caught......I could be wrong.

You will not catch me in a public swimming pool if I can help it. The water is always so warm and "sludgy" feeling. And sometimes salty . I have been in many pools in my days and it is NOT supposed to be salty, I don't care what chemicals they put in there. And to top it I was traumatized as a child at after school care when we had to evacuate the pool b/c someone decided to evacuate their bowels in the deep end. UGH. And to top off my apartment complex has had to drain the pool twice so far b/c someone couldn't hold their alcohol. Yes, you will not catch me in a public pool.

This post is nasty, im currently having swimming lessons at the moment at the age of 24 and so is my mother who cant swim at the age of 53, nor can my brother, father or nephew, we are an entire family of non swimmers and if you look at it statisically youd notice hardly any back people can swim and to me it is a damn important skill to have, i nearly drowed when i was younger and my father could not jump in to save so had to run to get a life guard, it could have been to late, equally i nearly drowned when i went to barbados, even though i did have some rum first but i still could swim and when i went to tunisia recently it was a drag watching everyone swimming and have fun, its also the best exercise i go once a week, i close my mouth and dont swallow the water, breath through the noise, wear swimming socks, shower before and after getting in, i do to think about health risks and infections but i also love sauna and steam rooms which have major benifits for us? do u all not sauna too? what about when you go on holiaday i guess you dont go in the sea which has no cholrine or go in that faboulous pool you paid for? i guess not.