Summertime is here and many of those who have a pool opened it for the season and those don't have pools will either be hitting up a friend's pool or heading to public pools.  If you’re one of the people who have plans to visit a public swimming pool at some point this summer, there’s something important that you definitely need to know.

Can you guess what the number one problem in public pools is? Number two. Yeah, that kind of number two. A study conducted by the CDC found that almost 60% of public swimming pools contain traces of fecal matter.  Pretty disgusting.

If you've ever wondered why it's so important to hop in the shower before hitting the pool, this nugget from the CDC might clear things up,

"Finding a high percentage of E. coli-positive filters indicates swimmers frequently contaminate pool water when they have a fecal incident in the water or when feces rinse off of their bodies because they do not shower thoroughly before getting into the water."

Experts say that E. coli bacteria can wind up in the water due to accidents or from traces of fecal matter on swimmers.  While most pool water samples were found not to contain E. coli germs that could cause illness, this info will probably still make you think twice before diving in this summer, right?

If you've been struggling to get your kids to listen to you about not drinking or putting pool water in their mouths, maybe toss this stat their direction. I think it's safe to say that they'll think twice before dipping their head down for a drink.

Also, if you're a parent and you've vowed that you're going to start paying closer attention to the warnings that the CDC issues on things from food recalls to information on things like the condition of the water your kids are swimming in, I encourage you to do what I've done - use mobile technology to your advantage. I mean, that's what it's there for, right? The CDC has a slew of apps, but my favorite right now is the straight up CDC mobile app. With everything that's been happening lately with food recalls, it's nice to get alerts right away so that I don't have to worry after the fact that maybe I've fed my kid something that could be harmful.

[via CDC]

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