While swimming in a swimming pool, you might accidentally swallow some pool water when trying to breathe in by opening your mouth. Though immediately spitting the swallowed water is possible, but you will still end up consuming a little bit of it. Now the question is whether this swallowed water can make you sick. The correct answer is ‘YES’.

The diseases that you can get due to swallowing the pool water are mentioned below:

  • Chlorine Poisoning

As far as Chlorine is concerned, it is a chemical that is generally used to stop bacterial growth and perform the task of sanitation. It possesses a pungent smell and there are many household products in which this chemical is used. Chlorine poisoning is the poisoning caused by chlorine when it is swallowed. Chlorine reacts with the water present outside and inside of your body and ends up producing Hypochlorous acid & hydrochloric acid.

Usually, the swimmer doesn’t face any sickness in short term but in long term, there are chances for him to get affected by mild chlorine poisoning if he keeps on swallowing chlorine on a regular basis. The symptoms of this disease include digestive issues, difficulty in breathing, low blood pressure, fluid in the lungs, high level of acid in the blood, etc.

Though there is very little risk of chlorine poisoning if you choose to swim in a well-maintained pool. The presence of this chemical in the pool water can be easily evaluated with the use of the test strips which also comes in handy when it comes to testing the acidity levels and PH levels in the water. Most of the swimming pools generally have a chlorine level of 4 ppm.

  • Recreational Water Illness (RWI)

The illnesses that are spread by getting in contact with the contaminated water are referred to as RWIs. Pool water is also generally contaminated water as it contains various bacterias like E.Coli, Shigella, Giardia, etc. The water gets contaminated with such bacterias due to the swimmers’ carelessness. That’s because we don’t bother taking a shower beforehand when we go to the pool, causing the transmission of such bacterias to the pool water.

The symptoms of a Recreational Water Illness include vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, fever, stomach cramps, etc.

Final Words

There is no doubt that swimming brings a lot of fun when the day is too hot but the water of the pool may also bring in many health issues if swallowed, as explained above. So it is recommended to seek medical help in such cases.

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