It’s not the chlorine in the pool that’s making your eyes red….
-by Staff
Have you ever walked into an indoor pool area, gotten a whiff of a strong chemical smell, and thought, “There’s a lot of chlorine in that pool”? Fact: It’s actually not the chlorine that causes that odor; its chloramines, according to Rick Ledbetter, swimming pool supervisor with Salt Lake County Health Department. Chlora mines form when chlorine disinfectants react with contaminants – perspiration, urine, body oils and cosmetics that are brought into pools by swimmers; chloramines deplete the bacteria-fighting chlorine. “Preventing the irritation isn’t rocket science,” says Ledbetter, “it’s common courtesy: Swimmers should use the pool to swim, the restroom to pee and the showers to wash up before getting in the pool. It’s that simple.”
—Salt Lake County Health Department