What are you swimming in?

By Hayley Bennett2022-05-16T06:09:00

Dipping a toe in an indoor swimming pool

Source: © Martin Barraud/Getty Images

Swimming pool disinfection is essential for public health but carries some risks of its own

A little over a century ago, taking a dip in a public pool was a filthy business. The advent of chemical disinfection systems using chlorine put a stop to that. However, organic compounds entering the pool on swimmers’ skin and clothes react with the residual chlorine to produce cocktails of chemicals known as disinfection by-products (DBPs). Read the article to learn about the risks DBPs pose to swimmers and how those risks can be minimised.

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