How do scientists know what’s really in the pool?
Sweetened swimming pools and hot tubs
Chemists used a sweetener as a clever tracer to find out how often swimmers… forget their manners.
An artificial sweetener called acesulfame potassium passes through the body unchanged, so the team used it as a tracer for the little accidents people have in pools.
They estimated that one large public pool had about 75 litres’ worth. That reacts with chlorine in ways that aren’t nice to breathe, so this is your gentle reminder to pop out to the loo.
The pool knows. Be kind to the pool.