When someone poops in a pool, the pool should be closed and treated with chlorine. Solid stool needs a shorter treatment than diarrhea, which needs a much longer closure.
What to do
The CDC recommends closing the pool and treating it.
Formed stool
Remove it and raise free chlorine to 2 ppm for about 30 minutes.
Diarrhea
Raise chlorine to 20 ppm for about 13 hours to kill Cryptosporidium.
Why
Crypto is chlorine tolerant and causes illness.
Health
Swimming diarrhea spreads through pools.
Prevention
Don’t swim with diarrhea. Take kids to the bathroom often.
CDC steps in pools
If a pool has formed stool (solid), the CDC advises: close the pool, remove the stool with a net or bucket and dispose of it, raise free chlorine to 2 ppm and maintain pH 7.5 or lower for 30 minutes, then reopen. For diarrheal accidents, a more intense treatment is needed because of germs like Cryptosporidium, which can survive normal chlorine for days.
- For diarrhea: raise free chlorine to 20 ppm for 12.75 hours at pH 7.5 or lower, or follow CDC alternative hyperchlorination tables, then reopen after test confirms levels.
- Crypto is the leading cause of waterborne disease outbreaks linked to swimming pools in the US.
- A CDC survey in 2010 found about 1 in 5 adults admitted to urinating in the pool, and swimmers can carry fecal residue.
Prevention
Do not swim with diarrhea, wash with soap before swimming, take kids for bathroom breaks every hour and change diapers away from the pool. Swim diapers do not stop germs. Check chlorine and pH levels regularly. Swallowing contaminated water can cause diarrhea lasting up to 3 weeks.
CDC steps in pools
The CDC advises closing the pool for solid stool and removing it with a net, then disinfecting with chlorine at 2 ppm for formed stool and raising it to 2 ppm for 25 minutes, and for diarrhea 20 ppm for 12.75 hours to kill Cryptosporidium.
Prevention
Swimmers with diarrhea should stay out of pools. Cryptosporidium causes outbreaks and is chlorine resistant.
Health risk
When someone poops in the pool, germs can spread. Chlorine does not kill them instantly. Cryptosporidium is the leading cause of pool related diarrhea outbreaks, and it can survive in properly chlorinated water for more than 7 days. Giardia, E. coli and norovirus are other risks.
Pool response
The CDC advises closing the pool for a formed stool and raising free chlorine to 2 parts per million for 25 minutes after a formed stool, or to about 20 ppm for 12.75 hours after diarrhea, which is the level that can inactivate Cryptosporidium, with pH between 7.2 and 7.5. Hyperchlorination needs proper test kits. Swimmers should not swim when sick with diarrhea, should shower before swimming and avoid swallowing pool water. Take children on bathroom breaks every hour and change diapers away from the water.
Based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Healthy Swimming program
