The ONLY point of the swim diapers is that they don't swell up in the water like regular diapers.

The reason someone thought to INVENT the things is because people were taking infants into the water with regular DIAPERS on.

The swim diapers INVITE bodily products to escape! Ick, ick, ick.

There was an incident like this in the indoor wave pool of a resort where I worked one summer.

Ever seen a 60-year old woman in a $3,000 Armani suit (the general manager) handing towards the pool area with a plastic sandwich bag and a broom? I have.

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What do you mean you didn't see it? It was right next to the toilet!

I view this page with some skepticism. There's a tendency to ascribe magical contaminating powers to poop that go beyond the actual truth of the matter.

I don't deny that poop contains all sorts of crazy bacteria. (Although one's poop doesn't contain any diseases one doesn't already have. No one will catch cholera from poop unless the person pooping already has cholera.)

But I don't think that the sudden insertion of a log of poop is going to cause an outbreak. After all, as we've discussed in many other places, our bodies aren't really poop-free as it is. Toilet paper doesn't actually clean us so much as it smears poop into our butts until we can't see it any more. Presumably there are still small amounts of poop and bacteria stuck to our butts as we dive into the pool. So we're constantly introducing fecally-transmitted bacteria to the water; that's why the water is chlorinated.

So while it's true that a solid log does introduce a higher concentration of bacteria into the water, I can't imagine it's enough to overwhelm the levels of chlorine already present.

I'm not saying precautions shouldn't be taken -- they should, absolutely. Rather, I just think that there's precaution and then there's hysteria and fearmongering.

Follow-up: as for diarrhea, that does indeed require more caution than a solid log. It will disperse much faster, for obvious reasons; but while it could just be the aftermath of Taco Bell, diarrhea could be evidence of some nefarious digestive disease. You need to be more careful with diarrhea, just in case it is dysentery or something.

I have a pool, always keep the chlorine well above 2.0 and the PH above 7.2, I'm a fanatic about it.

Being that I have the only pool in the neighborhood, my yard has always been a popular place with the kids and I'm sure some of the young ones have had less that clean asses and surely have peed in my pool.

But I never worry about germs in my pool.

Now a public lake, a public pool, a pool at a hotel, those are the type of things I worry about swimming in because I have no control of the maintenence.

SHOULD ALL FECAL ACCIDENTS BE TREATED THE SAME?
No.

A diarrheal fecal accident is a higher risk event than a formed stool accident.

Interesting. The real peoblem with a diarrheal event is that it's, well, diarrheal.

That's "problem." Must preview comments.

I could edit that typo for you if you'd like, Mr. Daddy.

This was a wonderful poopreport. What I wonder most about, though, is how many people pee in the pool, because you know that we've probably all done it once in our lives.

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.....hugging bunnies since 1969
www.daphneszoo.com

A couple of comments here.

>What I wonder most about, though, is how many people pee in the pool,

Urine is sterile (unless you have a urinary tract infection), so no problem.

And we chlorinate the treatment plant effluent to 2 ppm with a detention time of ~40 minutes in the chlorine contact channel. Our effluent is consistently lower than 2 cfu (colony forming units) per 100 mL.

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I work at a poop plant, so I know whereof I speak.

SSpiffyPoo

This summer we went to the Disneyland resort in Anaheim, CA. We were enjoying our time at the hotel's pool when suddenly we see the pool get emptied of people. I may have been asleep, for I did not hear any lifeguard over the PA bellowing "get out" orders.

We felt sorry for whoever it was of the numerous parents whose child let a log (or brown cloud?!) free in the pool area. Fortunately, we had spent a few hours there so didn't feel ripped off. But for the new hotel patrons, this pool closure in late June must have been a major problem.

What was more interesting was that within 30 minutes of the pool sitting empty, some teenager comes into the pool area and promptly dives into the pool. We were all embarassed for him as his dad sternly told him to get out, while we all watched. Most likely, he was not in the pool area after the evacuation.

Interesting. At several of the local pools, the rule seems to be 2 hours. I know that's the case at our local YMCA and at the county recreation centers. On the other hand, I know of one local country club that will not let in children with swim diapers.

It always seemed disingenuous to take away pool priveleges for families with little poopers. First, they're children. For shit's sake, this kind of activity is part and parcel of the human condition. Untold generations have had to endure this. If you've ever cleaned a baby's shitty bottom on a regular basis, you know it's almost impossible to clean out all of the shit from under your fingernails once that's happened. So, what are you going to do? Not go to work for a week to avoid infecting your co-workers? How are you going to go a week without jamming your fingers up your nose at least once?

Second, there are far more formidable and prevalent diseases than Cholera in the population. For example, we don't ban snot-nosed children or HIV-Positive individuals from the pool. And while it's understood that menstruating women shouldn't use the pool, we certainly don't ban them during their periods.

I really think that this whole thing is just the visual component. You can't see AIDS, urine, menstrual by-products, athlete's foot, lice and a host of other disease vectors in the pool. So, we all just push it out of mind and accept the risk when we do the cannon ball. Yet, let a little brown particle (or a little gastric acid, i.e. vomit) get into the pool and, suddenly, everybody is wigged out.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating that we should all dive in after an accident. If a little decontamination time helps to calm the savages, then go for it. But diseases are there and, once you get in the pool, you accept the risk of living mano-a-mano with the unwashed masses of humanity.

And for those of you who are really grossed out by the whole notion of pool-borne diseases, please take a soap shower with shampoo before and after you use the pool.
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Yo quiero Taco Bell.