September 14, 2010

The war against swimming pools?

Signs:

1. "If we are going to pour such a carbon intensive material into the ground doesn't it make environmental sense to reserve it for public pools that we can all use?"

2. "[S]ubstances form in pool water from reactions between disinfectants such as chlorine and organic matter that is present naturally in the water or is introduced by swimmers from sweat, skin cells and urine. Long-term exposure to the substances has been linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer...."

3. ???!!!

87 comments:

bagoh20 said...

Another step toward the inevitable "Matrix" future the left longs for. We can always just program a pool into the imagination.

Pastafarian said...

I wonder how many of the warriors against pools will give up the luxury of their own pool, and instead go swimming at the local public pool.

Have you been to a public pool lately? They have to dose them with so much chlorine, to kill the e. coli from all the kids who don't bother to wipe their asses, that they're just about uninhabitable.

MadisonMan said...

Most of the pools my son trains in now don't use chlorine as a disinfectant, and air quality has improved significantly at them. It didn't really bother him, but I know some swimmers and parents who really suffered.

As far as home pools go, if they leak, so what? Charge the owners the actual cost of the water they are using, and the leaks will be plugged up. I don't live in a hot climate, but I've never really understood the allure of a pool at home. One more huge thing to take care of and maintain? No thanks.

garage mahal said...

Oh Christ.

X said...

Don't like pools? Don't have one.

I'm Full of Soup said...

From treehugger.com?

Is it a spoof or is this part of the liberal War To End Fun?

Scott M said...

Hasn't there been a trend toward salt-water pools to cut down on chemical use? Seems like a good idea.

One thing I've NEVER gotten over, ever since first hearing about it as a kid, is the "attractive nuisance" issue that makes you liable if some kid hops your fence and drowns in your pool. I would assume that's state by state, but it just seems absolutely ridiculous.

kjbe said...

One more huge thing to take care of and maintain?

What's always scared me are the stories of kids wondering in and drowning. No thanks, I'll join the Y.

Scott M said...

One further thing...why would this carbon apostle even be questioning pools if ManBearPig has one all to his lonesome. Two maybe...anyone check out if the new beach house has it's own pool...within farting (more greenhouse human pollution there) distance of the ocean?

Pastafarian said...

We had a pool at our last house -- in-ground, big enough to actually swim. Yes, it was a bit of a pain and somewhat expensive to maintain, but it was worth it. Friends would come over to swim, play volleyball, etc.

Again: Public pools are fetid. Have you been to the BMV? Would you like to immerse your head in a soup that consists partly of their various excretions and secretions? And you can't really swim in them -- they tend to be full of the public.

I'm thinking about putting a pool in at this house, but the back yard is sort of an irregular shape and there are a lot of obstacles to plan around. That, and wondering whether society will devolve into a Mad Max-style free-for-all, have dampened my enthusiasm for the project.

GMay said...

What's wrong garage, yet more indications your side is completely fucking insane?

erictrimmer said...

3. Lobby for rules mandating "eco-friendly" pool treatments.

4. Profit!

Known Unknown said...

My next door neighbors have a pool.

It's awesome!

Salt water pools are an easy solution (no pun intended?) to this problem.

Trooper York said...

When I was a kid we always loved a really hot and humid day. Then one of the teenagers on the block would got and get their fathers wrench and take the cap off of the jiney pump. Gallons and gallons of water would come pouring out. So strong that it would knock you on your ass if you were a little kid. You would run through the freezing water and get soaked and cool off.

We would take a coffee can with the lids on both ends taken off to direct the water. They would spray cars and if somebody didn't roll up their windows they would try to get it in the car. The driver would jump out and chase the kids down the street.

If the driver was cool, he would roll up his windows (no a/c in the cars in those days) and park in front of the pump and they would spray it from head to toe.

We must have wasted gallons and gallons of water.

And you know what?

The world didn't come to an end.

Trooper York said...

Sometimes I wish it was still 1965.

CCMCornell said...

Could be a sneaky way of reducing the number of men in shorts.

garage mahal said...

What's wrong garage, yet more indications your side is completely fucking insane?

So tell us what is insane from the two links.

You saw the dumb headline and that was enough for you, wasn't it. Swimming pool boogeymen now? Who's insane?

TMink said...

The new puritans are just against fun.

Environmental angst is only the plausible justification.

Trey

Anonymous said...

I've heard rumors of 12- and 13-year-old virgins getting preggo after swimming in public pools, from the sperm floating around in the water.

My patented Urban Legend Detector is flashing yellow.

Peter

Sprezzatura said...

3) The USDA Rural Housing program used to exclude (although exceptions were possible) houses w/ in-ground pools.

[But, I've been out of banking for quite a few years so I have no idea if the pool ban is still around.}

GMay said...

garage mahal requested: "So tell us what is insane from the two links.

You saw the dumb headline and that was enough for you, wasn't it. Swimming pool boogeymen now? Who's insane?"


To answer your first question - no.

Second question - yes.

Third question - you lefties. See previous answer.

First request you made - that would be...the two links.

Any more questions?

Big Mike said...

Basic loser liberals (as opposed to your basic limousine liberals, e.g., garage) in action.

They can't afford it so you shouldn't have it.

Move along.

Anonymous said...

Public pools
Public libraries
Public housing
Public restrooms

What images does this list conjure?

garage mahal said...

Any more questions?

Yea, answer the first. What is "insane", in either of the two links.

Sprezzatura said...

"Public pools
Public libraries
Public housing
Public restrooms

What images does this list conjure?"

If you add 'public bike paths' and consider that 'public pools' could be related to rain, I'd think of a recent Meadehouse bike ride.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Swimming might be great exercise?, but so too is bicycling to the nearest public pool, beach, or lake.

1. No public pool within 50 miles.

2. Lake is full of algae and milfoil in the summer. Not to mention broken glass from teenage beer parties so you have to wear shoes at all times.

3. Rivers are nice and clean, however the water is about 45 to 50 degrees, shallow swift and not good for actual swimming.
Great for fly fishing.

4. Can't have an inground pool anyway, without extreme costs, because of frost heave.

And Amen to Pastafarian's post. Have you SEEN the people who go to public pools? Little kids wearing shitty diapers, snot nosed children. The filth in the water is not to be imagined. I would rather swim in the broken glass algae infested lake.

However, IF I did want to have my own swimming pool I would tell these busybodies to shove it.

Solution. Hot tub with coolish water in the summer, hot water in the winter. FTW

lemondog said...

But that hasn't stopped somwhere between 8.6 million and 10 million US homeowners investing their hard earned money in digging a hole in yard, line it with energy intensive concrete, filling it with water, all just so they can constantly clean and filter it.

Doesn't this kinda tie into the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, or whatever it's called, mentioned by Nina the cartoon(ist)?

By creating and then spending wealth, humans encourage propagation, so if we stop spending money to build pools which creates wealth for people building the pools which support their families who in turn spend money to build pools which creates wealth for other people building pools which support their families who.......

re: Salt water pools, where does the salt water come from? Mortons?

Christy said...

FWIW our pool club uses some "greener method" to keep the pool clean. Anyhow, the pool shut down for the season on Aug 14, with temps still in the 90s because kids went back to school the next day. The lifeguard explained that with little use, the pool water didn't churn enough to keep whatever chemical they use active. Was I being BSed?

Sprezzatura said...

"however the water is about 45 to 50 degrees"

Just getting back from more than a week between Jasper and Banff, that sounds relatively comfortable. Of course, I'm not a total dope so it's not like I ever considered swimming in the glacial lakes up there. But, they are gorgeous to look at (and kayak on).

Unknown said...

"according to recent research"

From whom? The Treehuggers of America?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

"If we are going to pour such a carbon intensive material into the ground doesn't it make environmental sense to reserve it for public pools that we can all use?"

No. If we are going to pour such a carbon intensive material into the ground, the environment doesn't care if one person, everybody, or nobody uses it.

It might make social justice sense to reserve it for public pools, but it certainly does not make environmental sense.

KCFleming said...

And Michelle Obama says, "No fries for you; just carrots."

Mitch H. said...

Well, they *are* more dangerous than keeping a gun around the house.

I went for a swim a couple years ago at the public pool. All the time, I was trying to remember why this used to be so much goddamn fun when I was a kid. I got bored of swimming back and forth within a half-hour, and went home.

I guess I'm just not a pool person.

KCFleming said...

Mrs. Obama ...asked the restaurants to rethink the food they offer and reformulate their menus to help combat childhood obesity.
"We have to do more, we have to go farther, and we need your help to lead this effort," she told the restaurateurs and executives.
"

Plus, she wags her finger at you.

She needs to get in on the pool thingy. She ain't even half done tellin' us what to do.

Scott M said...

I went for a swim a couple years ago at the public pool. All the time, I was trying to remember why this used to be so much goddamn fun when I was a kid. I got bored of swimming back and forth within a half-hour, and went home.

If you take your own kids that are just learning to swim, it's pretty damned entertaining. Curse my sentimentality for tearing up whenever one of them lights up like a nova every time they figure something out for the first time. Thank God I'm already wet.

What's really striking is how it was almost a physical gut punch when I realized that I...me...was going to have to teach other completely clueless humans how to swim. Absolutely mind blowing in a way I never thought it could be.

lgv said...

As is always the case, who is the deciderer of what is an appropriate use of energy and at what level is the cut-off.

I live in a community with a community pool about 200 yards away. My wife and I use to swim laps every morning. Twice it was locked up for days. Come to find out it was because someone pooped in the pool. Shades of Caddyshack.

Enviros never address the issue of absolute vs. relative energy use. Would it be OK if the pool pump ran on solar and wind if my house still uses coal produced electricity?

If my 10,000 sq. ft. energy efficient "green" house produced the same CO2 effect as a working stiff's 2,500 house, would that be OK, or is 10,000 too much for me to have?

tim maguire said...

Interesting that the first link (written by an Australian) uses the example of skateboarders skating in empty pools as support for getting rid of private pools.

Isn't he worried about losing the hacky-sack vote?

This same source, Green Living Tips, believes that "up to 1 in 5 inground swimming pools leak. A small leak in a pool cause the loss of 700 gallons of water per day."

"[B]elieves" huh?

Scott M said...

If my 10,000 sq. ft. energy efficient "green" house produced the same CO2 effect as a working stiff's 2,500 house, would that be OK, or is 10,000 too much for me to have?

I never understood ManBearPig's handlers' answers to questions along the lines of "how can he be taken seriously on AGW issues if he has a huge pool, a huge house, and uses more energy than 20 regular American households?"

The answer was that he purchased carbon credits to offset his usage. What I've never heard anyone do is the obvious follow up question, "Wouldn't the planet be better off if he consumed (or consumed less than) what the average American does and STILL bought the carbon credits?

Wouldn't the planet be better off in the latter case?

As an aside, have the carbon credit vendors been debunked yet as a scam?

As a second aside, how can something be 1/2 man, 1/2 bear, and 1/2 pig?

garage mahal said...

Gmay must be out mowing the lawn.

KCFleming said...

Gmay must be out mowing the lawn."

Gmay is DESTROYING THE PLANET!!1!

Trooper York said...

"Gmay must be out mowing the lawn"

Don't tell ironrailsironweights.

Peter doesn't like it when anything gets trimmed.

Skyler said...

The attacks never stop. The more inane they are, the more likely people will not wonder at the insanity and presume that there must be some logic. Each partial victory that insanity and anti-human people win is used to attack again.

The counter to insanity by those representing us in government is never to say something is insane and none of other people's business. They mealy mouth objections and allow the premises to go unchallenged.

traditionalguy said...

Its those RICH people making more than $200,000 a year again. They are poisoning the world with RICH swimming pools for their RICH pleasures while the rest of us hopeless are living without pools. Hint:Salt water is the easy way to keep the pool from becoming a pond.

Triangle Man said...

Those "substances" (trihalomethanes) are in municipal water supplies too. Should every spigot have a label?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Does the White House have a pool?

Scott M said...

Does the White House have a pool?

Yes, but it's full of sycophantic careerists who don't want to loose their precious access to...oh, wait.

chickelit said...

I avoid swimming pools because of the layer of oily scum one always finds these days from people trying to avoid skin cancer. It absolutely ruins the experience for me.

Grateful to live by a still clean ocean.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Skyler- you are so right. These liberal nuts are really insane and we should call them on it at every opportunity.

I'm Full of Soup said...

EPR:

Tune in tomorrow when treehugger.com reveals how disgusting the ocean is.

Meade said...

"As a second aside, how can something be 1/2 man, 1/2 bear, and 1/2 pig?"

New Improved Super Carbon Credits! Free 1/2 pig in every box!

garage mahal said...

An innocuous article in treehugger.com titled "The Home Swimming Pool. Full Of Empty Promise" constitutes an "attack"? On who? Against what?

I thought you were the tough guys.

Anonymous said...

"As a second aside, how can something be 1/2 man, 1/2 bear, and 1/2 pig?"

Makes sense if you work at the CBO.

Scott M said...

New Improved Super Carbon Credits! Free 1/2 pig in every box!

As the industry is going down the ol' swirly, they're pulling out all the stops. A liquidation sale, if you will.

Trooper York said...

It's an attack on those rich bastards who make six figures and waste it on swimming pools and betting on teams with old farts at quarterback instead of sending it to Sally Struthers to feed poor starving kids and to buy fly-swatters to get the flies off of their eyes and their bloated swollen bellies.

Everybody knows that!

garage mahal said...

***Runaway Strawman Alert***

Trooper York said...

Brett is an "old man" not a "strawman."

GMay said...

No garbage, I went to the store. Unlike you, I don't have mommy to take care of my personal business or cook my meals for me.

If you promise not to thread duck once your questions have been answered I'll be more than happy to give you an in depth response. But since you always thread duck, like all the lefty trolls do here, I'm just going to answer your question with "both links are fucking insane" and leave it at that.

Scott M said...

I never once said ManBearPig was 1/2 straw.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Remember when Sally Struthers was hot? Now she could pass for sister of ManBearPig.

I'm Full of Soup said...

I'd love to bet you Garage that this story will make it into the MSM but you'd welch on the bet.

Trooper York said...

"Remember when Sally Struthers was hot?"

I know. I miss 1965.

Phil 314 said...

Trooper said;
And you know what?

The world didn't come to an end.


Not yet..

Scott M said...

The world didn't come to an end.

Not yet..


I'm giving us about even odds...

TMink said...

"A small leak in a pool cause the loss of 700 gallons of water per day."

Water is never lost and is rarely used. It is merely borrowed.

Trey

Ralph L said...

re: Salt water pools, where does the salt water come from? Mortons?
Mormons.

Peter V. Bella said...

The time has finally come for us, as a nation, to have a serious discussion about swimming pools. To many people die from drowning or suffer catastrophic injuries in swimming pools- especially the children.

We need common sense swimming pool control. Especially the over large or fancy shaped swimming pools of the wealthy. Our homes and neighborhoods are no longer safe with all these pools. Victims and their families are suffering.

Legislation should be proposed to ban swimming pools. Lacking that, the pools and their owners should be severely and closely regulated. Every swimming pool in the country should be registered and owners must purchase a yearly tax stamp depending on the size of the pool and the current value of their home.

Pools should rigorously be inspected yearly. All in ground pools must have a life guard on duty when in use. They must have a solid or semi-solid cover over them when not in use.

Pool owners will be held strictly responsible and criminally liable for any severe injury or death occurring in their pool- whether they are on the premises or not.

Remember, it is for the children.

Bruce Hayden said...

Never really got off on private pools, since the country club pool was so close when I was growing up.

But then, a bit over a decade ago, I moved to Phoenix. And there, they are a major problem. I really don't care about energy usage that much - the state runs an energy surplus that is sold to California. But rather, I dislike the abuse of water.

I have been told that pools in the middle of the summer lose maybe a half a foot of water a day to evaporation in Phoenix. And that has two effects. First, it along with all the non-indigenous vegetation have massively increased the humidity in the air there, making 110 intolerable. And, secondly, the water has to come from somewhere, and that means to some extent the Colorado River. A river that is now so overallocated that a lot of agriculture is being shut down in S. Ca. so that people can have their pools in Phoenix and southern California.

When I got to Phoenix, my secretary told me that most families put one in when their kids were smaller, but then yanked them out as the youngest hit high school, and the cost and bother overcame use.

Chennaul said...

First, it along with all the non-indigenous vegetation have massively increased the humidity in the air there, making 110 intolerable.


Maybe if Phoenix was it's own biodome-but I would think relative humidity in an environment as wide as a desert-with the ambient air being pretty damn thin and dry to begin with- any "effect" would be near negligible. I would think the humidity would disperse rapidly and that dispersal would be almost limitless.


The atmosphere for Phoenix-is probably equal to the atmosphere of what?

What's the limit?

Chennaul said...

IOW-

What "eco-scientist" is spouting that theory off?

Chennaul said...

Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science © 2004 Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science.

Abstract
Hourly surface observations from 16 weather stations in and around the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area were analyzed and compared to each other to determine whether the rapid urbanization in the area has altered local humidity levels during the period 1991-2003. A single station's dew point values were also tested for trend during the period 1948-2003, as were upper-air sounding data since 1990. Each station was classified as being rural or urban at various times throughout the study, and then trends were sought in the dew point values to determine if any of the stations were experiencing systematic increases or decreases in humidity. No trends were found for any of the stations or the soundings, nor were there any trends found in the overall difference between rural and urban humidity values. Significant differences existed between the average rural and average urban dew points at every hour of the day, so urbanization can affect humidity to some degree. However, the rural-urban differences are relatively small and do not appear to increase over time.

Alex said...

I hate public pools, they're breeding grounds of illness and I always get sick after swimming in one.

Known Unknown said...

Global warming and wasting energy will lead to rising tides ...

Swimming pools for all! It's a win-win!

HT said...

Ahhh, got back from the pool this evening. Perfect time to be going. Hardly anyone there, blue skies, pine trees. Just you, the sun and lots of chairs. The water was great.

caplight said...

On Mad Men this week Don Draper has taken up swimming to get back in shape and clear his head. His date thought he smelled like chlorine. She tried to seduce him later that night. Don Draper+swimming+wiff of chlorine=sex. Pools are here to stay.

Meade said...

“We Don’t Pour Chloramine on Your Tony Hawk Videos – Please Don’t Skateboard In Our Foreclosed Pool”

John Burgess said...

Lars Porsena: I don't know. I've used three of the four in m lifetime. Public restrooms, while not always spic-n-span, are often just where you need them, when you need them.

I'd also be very unhappy were I to lose my public library. I'd also be much poorer if I had to buy everything I read. But I do give books I buy to my public library when I'm done with them.

I don't need a public swimming pool now as I'm just minutes from the beach. But they were definitely good things when I was a kid and they were the only pools around.

JAL said...

But that hasn't stopped somwhere between 8.6 million and 10 million US homeowners investing their hard earned money in digging a hole in yard, line it with energy intensive concrete, filling it with water, all just so they can constantly clean and filter it.

That's the crunch, libs.

It's OUR hard earned money. It's our CHOICE. If we want to "constantly [!] clean and filter it" it's OUR time. It's OUR choice.

Not yours.

Sheesh. Love that liberal choice thingey in action. /s

OB1 said...

We had a pool as kids in CA. It was a great way to get exercise AND stay cool without air conditioning the house. Swimming is just about the best sport for long term body conditioning and health -- low injury rate, high on aerobics.

There are ways to reduce chemical use and have a clean private pool. Also, salt water pools are the result of mixing HCl and NaOCl and never changing the water. In other words, it's full of all sorts of 'stuff' that has accumulated over the years... I'd swim somewhere else...

Milwaukee said...

I swim regularly, and my asthma is very well controlled. There is nothing like lap swimming to clear a cold-clogged-head. That's what the chlorine is for. You should see what it does to swimming suits and hair and skin. Is it possible that the long term effects of being exposed to that stuff will give me cancer? Maybe. But asthma is much faster, if not treated. One time my asthma doctor advised me that if I was having an asthma attack while suffering from the flu to go to the hospital directly. Don't bother calling first. So, yes lap swimming is excellent. And unlike jogging, I never need to worry about getting wet. Is there anything these humorless pricks are not against?

Pass the butter, and I need more salt on my fries.

comatus said...

Years ago, my father and I installed home swimming pools. Dug the hole and all. I'm an expert.

Most home swimming pools are not made of carbon-intensive concrete. They're made of oil-addicted plastic. So there is that. Lousy for skateboarding.

It's true they are a lot of work, and Dad figured that on balance he made as much taking them out as putting them in. A leaking heavily-"shocked" pool will kill a lawn, and it will stay dead for years. Sometimes it is the neighbor's lawn. Those were a problem.

Now I want you to imagine what a leaking salt-water pool would do. Here's a hint: the Romans did it to Carthage. Does "delenda" ring a bell for anyone?

Unknown said...

I've had private pools at four of the five houses I've owned. Had two of them installed myself, the other two were preexisting.

Love 'em.
I don't care what some jealous commie treehugger writes, mind your own damn business...MK?

My current pool is 50,000 gallons of concrete bliss with an attached hot tub/spa.

It is also a salt water pool. The salt water is used by a chlorinator to dissociate the NaCl in the salt to Cl (chlorine) and NaOH (sodium hydroxide) with an electrode installed in the return water line.

So, salt water pools still use Chlorine to disinfect, it is just more convenient to produce your own rather than constantly adding granular or tablet chlorine.

I can go away for a week, and the chlorinator keeps the pool nice and clean with no supervision.

Again, Love it.

wGraves said...

When I built my home, I put the pool in first, then built the house on top of it. Instant indoor pool. I use an ozoneator to minimize the chlorine density. In addition, because the pool is indoors, I don't find dead animals, leaves, insects, etc. floating in it to any great extent. It's great exercise. By the way, when you add chlorine to water, you get a mixture of hydrochlorous and hydrochloric acids. Amazingly, these are the same digestive acids which occur in your stomach and intestines in much higher concentrations. If they give you bladder cancer, you'd already have it. Ain't it a bit*h that some people study chemistry. Sorry, but MIT insisted.

John Stodder said...

What if we filled pools with plastic bags?

John Orzechowski said...

"NEVER SWIM IN A SWIMMING POOL
People pee in swimming pools. Oh, I know you don't pee in swimming pools, and I certainly don't, but somebody does, which promotes the growth of bacteria, which is why swimming pool owners are always dumping in toxic chemicals, to the point where there is virtually no actual water in the pool, just toxic chemicals and dead bacteria and old pee."

Dave Barry, Stay Fit & Healthy Until You're Dead

Dick Stanley said...

Pool fools, i.e. pool owners, already pay for twice the electricity use of other homeowners to run the pool pump to recirculate the water. So if the nanny state decides to pile taxes on top of the electric bill mountain, we'll just turn our pools into giant planters.

Parag said...

Most Eco friendly pools are constructed using environmentally friendly materials. Some companies focus on the use of recycled materials found locally to cut down on transportation pollution.

The aquatic plants and design of the natural pool, enhances the beauty of any yard. While all natural swimming pools are aesthetically attractive, some are designed to have a more natural appearance than others. Some resemble a natural pond or a lagoon.

Unknown said...

Thanks for all the advice, this is really good to know. We bought a new house with a swimming pool but they told us there is a leak in it. I want to get it fixed before summer so the kids can swim.

http://www.aquamanleakdetection.com/thebuckettest/