Pool Bacteria
 

Anyone out there as much as a worry-wart as I am? I will be renting out a house in Orlando that has a private pool. My two young sons will be using the pool and I want to make sure the pool does not give them Recreational Water Illness (RWI). As you may know, there are some forms of bacteria (e.g., crypto) that is fairly resistant to chlorine. Being that there is no dedicated pool staff for a pool at a house to ensure the water is maintained properly - I believe there is a higher risk of bacteria existing than compared to a pool in a large hotel where there is dedicated staff.

Should I bring a simple water test kit to test for bacteria? This test can be completed in 17 minutes. The management company of the rental may think I am nuts but whatever it takes to prevent my family from getting RWI. Maybe I can call them back if the test shows that there is bacteria and ask for another rental/house. They may think the test is not accurate but maybe I should make an agreement as to the type of water test kit to use and the consequences if the test shows an unsafe level of bacteria. Am I going overboard?

http://www.watersafetestkits.com/html/poolkits.asp

Why not bring your own pool?

What about this pool? Is it screened? Is it indoors, outdoors? Is it in the sun? And what kind of treating does the owner do? Does he/she have a pool service? Many people use pool services and they constantly test and treat the water. Or do they maintain it themselves?

No need to worry if you do your homework. The cheap test kits aren't particularly good. If you find a Pitch-A-Penny, you can bring them a sample of the pool water and they will test it and tell you what to do. Or you can find a pool service in the vicinity or a hardware store that specializes in treating pools and take a sample to them.

And yes, you are a worry-wart.

Well, yes. But in your position I would ask the rental agency about the pool's maintenance routine. In that area, even pools without a dedicated staff usually have a company that comes around to do routine maintenance, the equivalent professional care. And remember that a private pool is exposed to less, um, personal contamination than a public or hotel pool.

We all worry about different things - and what each of us chooses to worry about may seem rational or not to others. (For example, I think the endless thread on contamination on hotel bedspreads is silly - but my fear of flying is just as insane to others).

So since pool bacteria concerns you, I would bring the test kit and do the test. Here my pool knowledge ends, but I thought you did not need to throw out the pool if water was contaminated, but could then treat the water and in less than 24 hours it would be fine. So instead of asking for a different house, might you instead ask that the pool be treated if it is contaminated - and then maybe get some money off the deal for non-use of pool for 36 hours.

Just curious - since your kids are little, do you let them use wading pools/kid pools in public places. The thought of all those kids peeing and worse in a pool always grossed me out.

I just googled crypto. This bacteria comes from animal waste. I'd say you're safe from that. If there is a problem, it will likely be solved with either chlorine or baking soda. "Shock" is used to bring a pool back to its correct levels and you can swim safely after 12 hrs. or so. I admit to having swam in my pool the next morning after an overnight treatment of shock.

Cryptosporidiosis is actually a parasite. Cryptosporidiosis is not killed by chlorine, but can only be removed by filtration. In 2000 when we first move to Sarasota, there was an outbreak of cases here ( 5 or 6 cases). It was finally linked to the children's play fountain at the park on the bay downtown. The fountain was closed and a filtration system was installed. Why do I know so much? My daughter was tested after having intermittent GI problems for several months. She was negative, but I still wonder today if she wasn't tested soon enough.

Cryptosporidiosis will not show up on a bacteria test. Would I let mine daughter swim in a private pool? Yes. She is also allowed to swim in public pools.

The spray water fountains at Busch Gardens and other parks make me a little nervous.

There are so many diseases out there, you can't protect them from everything.

mxylplik2 ask if there is a regular pool service. If there is, I would not have a problem with my daughter using the pool.

Its an outdoor pool, screened, in the sun. I just called the management company - they use a pool company to maintain the pool and they will be the ones that will turn on the pool heat. This is reassuring that they use a company to maintain/clean. I might bring the test kit anyway.

I don't mean to make light of what really could be a serious situation, but I'm amused to remember growing up and swimming in the creek every day all summer! Ah, simpler times of long ago!

A new thing to worry about, sigh. There really is no way to be completely safe in this old world. Sometimes you have to take chances. If doing the water test helps you sleep at night, I suggest it. I'd hate to tell my kids they couldn't swim at the pool, though. Better have a back up plan for entertaining them in case the water is indeed rancid.

Me too Patrick.

Just think what all those little fishies were doing in that water!

Number one misconcetion about pools and chlorine: The more chlorine you can smell, the cleaner the pool.

Actually an intense odor of chlorine can mean that there are large quantities of bacteria in the water and the chlorine odor intensifies as a result.

Like they say - kids change everything - I have a 12 month old and just looking out for the little guy. It can't hurt - I'll drop the test strip in and make sure.

#-o doh!

I want to once again point out to you the inacurracies of such a test kit as you propose, as well as the fact that it will only tell you what's wrong with the water quality, not what to do about it. Take my word for this: in Florida, because there are so many pools, there are also many places that will test your pool water using very advanced and sophisticated testing devices. And then they will tell you what's wrong (or not) and will then sell you what you need. This is usually as simple and cheap as a large box of baking soda or a one-time treatment of shock, which is a couple of dollars. If you are so worried about this, then don't self-diagnose. Go to the professionals.

After all, you owe it to your daughter. And to all those little fishes that poop in the water >:D<

You can buy a tropical weight dry suit from Diving Unlimited Inc. for about $1,400 if you're really worried. (Scuba tank non-inlcuded.)

Am I the only one who think this person has a financial interest in that test kit company. I mean, come on look at how the message is worded...

Ah, the anxiety generated by God's littlest critters: don't forget the particularly nasty Naegleria which causes an untreatable meningitis.
M

Alice, I'll bet you're right. In that case, let me reiterate. Those tests are substandard. A big waste of money. Go to Pinch-A-Penney with a pool sample (no, no, not stool sample). They will give it the professional one-two and you will be on your way.

Don't waste your money on inadequate pool water test kits, which all the pool people tell you are no good!

Rent a house with a diamataceous earth filter. These are so efficient at removing bacteria and other gunk that you barely need chlorine.
I have one in my pool and I'll never go back to the old kind.

I rented a house with a pool in Orlando. It was shocked before we moved in, and checked again midweek. The pool company posted their information by the pool.

I have never had an issue with a private pool at the homes we have rented. A lot less traffic than a public pool, too.

And, there is NOT a dedicated staff at most hotel pools. For the most part they use pool services, too.

No guarantees in life.

We had a DE filter too RBCal, but it still needed as much chlorine as a sand filter pool or whatever.

I sort of had the same niggly feeling that Alice did that this was a promotion for a certain test kit. What Average Josephine renting a house comes up with this sort of information? But then...who knows, maybe it's for real and she's a germophobe so researched it.

Personally, I think you are far safer in a home pool than a public, or hotel pool. Think of the number of kids in the hotel pools! Our hotel does have one person dedicated to the pool by the way, but we've also got two pools, a couple of large fountains, and a koi pond...all under his care. I suspect that in many cases, an engineer is wrangled into doing it.

I'm not much of a neat-nick, and raised my kids with the laid back philosophy that gradual exposure to a few germs did them more good than harm. Now I didn't intentionally introduce them to e. coli or staph aureus, but I didn't worry about this sort of thing and they both lived to tell about it, and were both pretty darned healthy to boot! :D

I used to swim with my HORSE in a stock tank behind the barn.
~Geez~ I thought I had it made at the time. Even now I think back to those sunny hot Texas days, I would ride bareback on my sweet little mare and just ride her right into that tank.

No way in hell I would have allowed my kid to do that! Yuk!

To those who think this post was started as an advertisement for the test, forget it. If it had been a first post from this person, I'd certainly agree, but a quick check of previous posts by mxylplik2 reveals numerous other posts from the past -- and clearly swimming pools are a major concern in many of them -- yet never a referral to this testing kit.

Sometimes I think those of us who grew up catching measles, mumps, chicken pox, frequent colds and all the other things will always have a stronger immune system than today's youths who have avoided everything from the constant use of antibiotics.

Um, Patrick, kids nowadays don't get measles, mumps, and chickenpox because of immunizations, not antibiotics.

Hee hee. I know that, but I guess my post made it sound like I meant that. Actually I was referring to two different groups of things -- the things one avoids due to immunizations and the things one avoids or treats from antibiotics.

TxTravelPro - and I was thrilled to be able to swim in the farm pond. I didn't think a thing about all the cows in the water at the same time!

This thread brought back an amusing memory from my childhood, way back in the mid-1940's. We were staying at a rented summer cottage, and one day my parents decided to drive around the area for some sightseeing and possibly swimming, if we could find a nice beach. There were lots of beaches around, but they seemed pretty crowded. Eventually we came to one, with lots of sand and a nice shallow area for us kids to play in, and no crowds. Nobody at all, in fact. So into the lake we went, splashing around happily. A short while later, though, we were hauled out of the water by our frantic parents. A farmer had brought his small herd of cows down to the water and they were all standing in it, a few yards upstream from us, peeing and pooing merrily away. (The farmer wasn't - just his cows.) I guess that's why the beach wasn't crowded.

Meetshare, I bet the farmer did too when you weren't looking! LOL

Oh, probably not, Patrick, because if he had, the cows wouldn't have wanted to stay in the water. :P

For the record, I do not have any connection with the water test kit company nor am I promoting it in any way. As Patrick has said, in all of my previous posts, I have never mentioned this kit.

Reminds me of the pool scene in Caddyshack. Doody!

I went to a public pool one hot sunny day a couple years ago and just as I was about to take a dip, several warty toads came hopping out from the bushes and they all hopped right into the pool. It didn't seem to phase the lifeguard who let the toads cool off a bit before scooping them out. She said they jump in all the time to cool off. What bothered me was when some guy with a worried look on his face asked the lifeguard if the chlorine hurts the toads. Needless to say, I have not been to that pool since, nor will I let my kids swim there either. Not until they come out with anti-toad test kits.

P.S. Talk about being a "worry wart!"

Isn't it astonishing that when we were kids we were ignorant of so many of today's dangers--and yet we're still alive?