I have been swimming for at least 20 years. I am an ex-runner, and now swim, do power yoga, play tennis, walk, etc. I am in excellent shape, yet I am seriously torn as to whether or not I should give up swimming. The club I belong to has the best schedule and available lanes, (and I pay dearly per month as well!) yet for the last year, I've waged a battle about their incessant use of tilex, windex and some horrific smelling metal cleaner they use in the aquatic center while classes and swimming is going on. I brought in the warning articles about the toxicity of inhaling these chemicals, passed them out to instructors and fellow swimmers, managers, etc. Recently, an article was posted by our Poison Control Center about the dangers of inhaling such chemicals --which stated that ventilation was not enough to prevent health issues (Of course, they do not and will not open the door when cleaning). Despite all this info I've provided, they stop for while, then will claim there is the smell of urine in the shower (I was in both showers just seconds before and there was NO urine smell) and they have to use the Tilex, etc. The other day, the manager asked me how long I was going to swim, because they wanted to use the Tilex. They continue to lie to me and tell me they won't use these products, yet the smell is so strong in there all the time, you can barely breathe. I used to swm next to a guy who would get out of the pool and literally chase them out when they started spraying. I guess I need to consider a sex change.:bump: Unfortunately, there isn't another gym where I can go with such a great schedule. However, I'm really worried about breathing thse fumes. People complain all the time, but not to management, only to one another. It seems like I am defeating my purpose to stay healthy swimming there. Yet, I feel this is as important an issue as second hand smoke - there should be no toxic chemicals used while the center is operational. Geez, would they go into a yoga or spin class and start spraying chemicals? (I've asked them that question) Thanks for any input or suggestions:bow:
Parents
Former Member
Where I swim the "cleaning" (and I use that term loosely) is done by the mostly teenaged lifeguard staff. We get out of the pool at 8:45pm; the place closes at 9:00pm. The staff wants to get out of there as soon as possible, so they start "cleaning" before or while we're trying to shower and dress.
Their floor cleaning regime consists of dumping some sort of smelly chemical all over the floor, adding water from a hose, and then using a giant squeegee to move the liquid across the floor to the drains. They have done this while people were in the showers, which meant that they had to walk through the chemical to get to their clothes. (I always wear flip-flops for this reason but some people don't.) I can't imagine that anyone should be getting that stuff on their feet.
They are indiscriminate with the hose, by the way. The benches and lockers are plastic so they don't care whether they get wet. We've gone in there at the end of practice to find all of the benches covered in water, which means there's no place to set our bags.
Another time I had a dark blue towel that I set on the counter in between the sinks. The counter was kind of wet but I was already dried off so I didn't care. I could tell that they had just cleaned that area because I could smell it. Silly me, I assumed that they would have RINSED the counters after pouring chemicals everywhere. When I got home I pulled the towel out of my bag to find that it now had purplish-red splotches all over it. Apparently the chemical had "bleached" the towel.
Where I swim the "cleaning" (and I use that term loosely) is done by the mostly teenaged lifeguard staff. We get out of the pool at 8:45pm; the place closes at 9:00pm. The staff wants to get out of there as soon as possible, so they start "cleaning" before or while we're trying to shower and dress.
Their floor cleaning regime consists of dumping some sort of smelly chemical all over the floor, adding water from a hose, and then using a giant squeegee to move the liquid across the floor to the drains. They have done this while people were in the showers, which meant that they had to walk through the chemical to get to their clothes. (I always wear flip-flops for this reason but some people don't.) I can't imagine that anyone should be getting that stuff on their feet.
They are indiscriminate with the hose, by the way. The benches and lockers are plastic so they don't care whether they get wet. We've gone in there at the end of practice to find all of the benches covered in water, which means there's no place to set our bags.
Another time I had a dark blue towel that I set on the counter in between the sinks. The counter was kind of wet but I was already dried off so I didn't care. I could tell that they had just cleaned that area because I could smell it. Silly me, I assumed that they would have RINSED the counters after pouring chemicals everywhere. When I got home I pulled the towel out of my bag to find that it now had purplish-red splotches all over it. Apparently the chemical had "bleached" the towel.
