Seth Roundy

2 March 2018

Mrs. Freestone

Pool Chlorine and its Bodily Effects

Every day there are countless people who jump into swimming pools for many purposes

to cool down from the summer heat, have fun, or to exercise/train, but many of them will

suffer from some side effect caused by the pool, like dry skin, irritated eyes, or coughing.

Individuals who regularly use pools have undoubtedly encountered some irritant due to the

chemicals in the pool. These chemicals, or rather chemical, is chlorine being. Chloramines in

the pool can evaporate into the air, thus causing the symptoms experienced in these two

studies (American Chemistry) used as a disinfectant. Chlorine is very effective, and will

neutralize nearly all harmful bacteria, but also has the ability to harm people’s bodies in certain

forms. Chlorine can combine with other compounds introduced into the pool to form a

chemical that is harmful to many different areas of the body. It can affect peoples skin, eyes,

hair, and even respiration, but these affects can be remedied. Despite these affects chlorine is

still necessary to keep pools safe of more harmful bacteria. It is important to have knowledge

of how this can affect the body, as to further protect oneself in the future.

The first thing to note is that chlorine is not the actual chemical that causes the side

effects many people experience after swimming but is a product of chlorine. The chemicals
that cause these effects are known as chloramines (American Chemistry). Chloramines are

formed in pools when free chlorine bonds with hydrogen to form hypochlorous acid, one of the

main agents of disinfection. From there the hypochlorous acid bonds with organic compounds,

to form the chloramines (Hankin S). These organic compounds come from the body in many

forms, such as sweat, urine, saliva, poop, oils, and lotion. It is important to note that

hypochlorous acid is corrosive and is part of what affects the skin in chloramines (Blue Haven

Pools & Spas). Understanding how chloramines are formed is necessary to further protect

oneself from its effects in the future.

Many studies have been performed on chloramines showing that they affect various

parts of the body, some of the commonly experienced effects are topical, on the surface of the

skin. Chloramines, when in contact with your skin, will strip the natural oils drying your skin.

Since hypochlorous acid is corrosive it can further worsen the effects of dry skin or a rash. This

is also able to affect the eyes in a similar manner should they be exposed to chloramines. In a

study performed by Kaydos-Daniels with some data from a hotel pool party, 32 out of 128

experienced three or more symptoms typical of chloramine exposure. Of those 32 individuals,

78 percent experienced eye irritation, and 34 percent experienced a rash. Chloramines have

been shown to be a cause for these affects in multiple studies. Another study performed by

Bowen showed similar results, that many swimmers experienced a rash, dry skin, or eye

irritation. These topical effects occur at many different levels of chloramine concentration with

differing severity. Chloramines do harm people, it has been shown time and time again, yet

these aren’t the only effects of chlorine and chloramines.

 Chloramines do not only affect the skin and eyes, they can also affect respiration. There

are different ways in which chloramines have been shown to affect respiration (Center for

Disease Control and Prevention), but these affects occur at indoor pools (Levesque B, et al.).

Chloramines in the pool can evaporate into the air where they available to be inhaled by people

if not well ventilated out of the pool area. Studies performed by Levesque and Dziuban have

shown that chloramines affect respiration in multiple ways. Dziuban found that throughout the

US people with significant exposure to chloramines experienced symptoms of acute respiratory

illness, meaning that people experienced: difficulty breathing, coughing, congestion, dizziness,

or a sore throat due to chloramine concentrations in pools. This can be confirmed by Levesque,

who performed a study looking at how different levels of chloramines affect respiration among

competitive swimmers at indoor pools. Levesque found that with higher concentrations of

chloramines in the pool, more swimmers reported feeling symptoms of acute respiratory

illness, but some still reported symptoms at lower levels of concentration. The CDC has also

reported that this is able to cause asthma attacks in those individuals with asthma.

Chloramines do not only affect the surface of the body but are also able to affect you internally

if not managed correctly. Despite these frightening possibilities, there are ways to go about

remedying the effects caused by chloramines.

Chloramines can affect a person’s body in various ways, thankfully, there are remedies

for each of these affects. The most effective method for all affects is for the manager of the

pool to manage chlorine levels well. When the chlorine levels are managed well there is

enough free chlorine to neutralize the germs and harmful bacteria to negate what chlorine has

been used to form chloramines (American Chemistry). This is the best way to reduce the levels
of chloramine in pools, and thus reduce its effects to those who enter the pool. The other

remedy that relies on others is to ensure that people are showering before they enter the pool.

This will minimize what organic compounds enter the pool, decreasing the total levels of

chloramines that can be formed in the pool (Blue Havel Pools & Spas). Even if not everyone

adheres to this method it can still benefit the individual by forming less chloramines near the

body. These are good preemptive measures that can be taken before symptoms are noticed,

but it is still imperative to know how to treat them after the fact. For a rash, dry, and or itchy

skin the first step is to wash off after pool use. This is to ensure that the chemicals which have

caused the irritation are no longer on the body to further affect the skin. The next step is to use

moisturizer to help reproduce the oils on the skin that have been stripped off. It is possible for

neither of these methods to work, if so then it is best to visit a dermatologist or other doctor

(“Chlorine toxicity in pools: causes, symptoms and solutions”). The method for reducing

irritation of the eyes is almost the same; the first step to take is to wash out the eyes, remove

any chemicals that could still be affecting them. After, moisturizing eye drops have been

observed to alleviate most of the irritation. The best way to remedy chloramines effects on

respiration depends on the manager of the pool properly managing the chlorine levels, and

ensuring the pool is well ventilated. The best defense the individual can make is to notice if

their breathing is affected when entering the pool, and if it is, to just go swim at a different

pool. This is not a problem with outdoor pools as they are always well ventilated. Chlorine and

Chloramines may have some harmful effects, but there are measures that everyone can take to

prevent these heavily affecting them.

 Chlorine is used in most public swimming facilities, and it is very effective in its purpose.

However, it is able to harm the individuals who use the facility in a variety of ways. Chlorine in

pools forms chloramines through hypochlorous acid bonding with organic compounds, which

can strip your body of its natural oils drying and irritating skin and eyes. Chloramines formed in

the pool can evaporate with the water, giving them the ability to affect swimmers’ lungs at

indoor pools, but there are ways to protect oneself against each of these effects. A large

responsibility lies on the pool manager to ensure the levels of chlorine are safe and optimal for

public use. Despite these effects, chlorine is still the best option for disinfection of pools (Blue

Haven Pools & Spas). Chlorine is very effective at its job, hence why it is still used in the

majority of facilities in the US. With the knowledge of how chlorine works in pools people can

much more effectively remedy any harmful effects it may have on them, keeping themselves

and potentially others safe and able to keep swimming.