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A PILOT STUDY TO DETERMINE THE WATER VOLUME INJESTED BY RECREATIONAL SWIMMERS
Citation:
Evans, O M., R Cantu, T D. Behymer, D D. Kryak, AND A P. Dufour. A PILOT STUDY TO DETERMINE THE WATER VOLUME INJESTED BY RECREATIONAL SWIMMERS. Presented at Society for Risk Analysis 2001 Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, December 2-5, 2001.
Impact/Purpose:
The objective of this task is to determine the amount of water ingested by a broad age range of swimmers during swimming activities.
Description:
The volume of water ingested by recreational swimmers is unknown. Previous estimates by a number of investigators range from 10mL to 100mL. These estimates, however, are unsupported by empirical data. Many outdoor swimming pools are disinfected using cyanuric acid stabilized chlorine. This compound, when ingested by a swimmer, is not metabolized by the human body and is excreted quantitatively in the urine. The volume of water ingested can be calculated by collecting 24-hour urine sample, and subsequently determining the total concentration of the stabilizer in the sample and in the swimming pool water. A pilot study, involving about 100 swimmers, was conducted to evaluate: (1) the study design, (2) the analytical method for quantifying the chlorine stabilizer, and (3) the response of the study population. The results of the pilot study indicate that a full-scale study using current design may, in part, address key questions relating water quality to swimmer illnesses.