Study: Average pool contains 20 gallons of urine

If you’ve ever been to a public swimming pool, you’re familiar with the stinging sensation of chlorine hitting your nostrils when you approach the water. Except that’s not just chlorine — it’s also urine, a new study suggests.

The research, from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, found that the average swimming pool contains 75 liters of human pee — proving true the commonly held belief that people relieve themselves underwater.

“Our study provides additional evidence that people are indeed urinating in public pools and hot tubs,” said lead study author Lindsay Blackstock, a graduate student at the university, according to the Guardian.

Study authors sampled 31 pools and hot tubs in two Canadian cities, and measured the concentration of the artificial sweetener acesulframe potassium (ACE), which is commonly added in processed food and goes through the body unchanged. They found ACE present in 100 percent of the samples, the Guardian reported, with concentrations that reached up to 570 times the underlying level in tap water samples. Study authors used those concentrations to approximate the volume of urine in the average swimming pool.

Read the rest of the story at FoxNews.com.