| Abstract: | As investigations carried out in an immersion basin of a sauna, with rinsed-off sweat and in indoor and outdoor swimming-baths have shown, from the total of 702 ± 529 mg/urea released per bather there are released 37.06 ± 24.75 mg through the skin into water; hence a urine introduction of 30 … 35 ml per bather resulting. The urea concentration in the bathing water does not show any correlation with the NH+4-concentration and the COD-Mn. Although urea-degrading bacteria are present with concentrations of up to 1 ± 105 colonies/ml, there does not occur any enzymatic decomposition of urea in the bathing water. Nitrification was not detected in the bathing water, either. The use of urea as a hygienic quality criterion for bathing water is not regarded as necessary: the determination of the NH+4-concentration suffices as an indicator of the pollution with faecal matter and the bound effective chlorine. |
