Last summer, the Vigo City Council announced that it would penalize bathers who urinate on the beach or in the sea with fines of up to 750 euros. Many people saw it as a meaningless measure, although the truth was that it did have a Scientific explanation. As are the alerts about the risks of doing so in the swimming pools. But what about other sources of water? Is there danger for pee in the river? The truth is that yes, and for quite curious reasons.
The first ones coincide with the reasons why one should not urinate in the sea. However, one must also be careful with the transmission of certain diseases. There have been cases of parasitism that have occurred because someone decided to urinate in the river.
Those people they didn’t know they were infected. For this reason, even if we think that we are totally healthy, urinating in the river can be dangerous for whoever decides to swim in it later. It is a somewhat more elaborate reason than the previous ones, but it is also possible. So if you can’t hold it, try doing it behind a tree, but not in the water.
The dangers of urinating in the river… or in the sea
Before talking about more exceptional reasons, we must remember those for which it is also dangerous for the environment pee in the sea.
The first cause is eutrophication. This is a phenomenon that occurs when a very high contribution of inorganic nutrients is deposited in the water, such as nitrogen or phosphorusboth present in the urine.
If this happens, the same effect occurs as if huge amounts of fertilizer were dropped into the water. This promotes the proliferation of certain algae and aquatic plants, which form a layer of biomass so large that light cannot pass through the surface. That prevents the correct development of others photosynthetic organisms that were previously there. Besides, all that biomass compete for it oxygen with the flora that was previously in the water. The consequences, therefore, can be catastrophic on an environmental level.
On the other hand, if we have used drugs, legal or not, they are also released with our urine, and may affect the organisms that they live in the water. All this happens both when urinating in a river and when doing it in the sea, hence the same precautions must be taken.
Something much rarer, but possible
In 2013, there was in Corsica a urogenital schistosomiasis outbreak. This is a tropical disease caused by a worm transmitted to humans through infected river snails. Since this is an endemic disease especially from Africa and also in part of the Middle East, it was not understood what the reason could be.
However, the investigation found an explanation related to urinating in the river. The first cases detected were some French tourists who, visiting Corsica, had taken a bath in the cavu river. Later, more cases were diagnosed in tourists and local population. In total, there were more than 100 people in whom the parasite was detected Schistosoma haematobium.
The investigation, in which Spanish scientists also participated, led to some Senegalese tourists, who possibly, without knowing that they were infected, urinated in the river. parasite eggs are deposited in the bladder and are released to the outside through urine. The larvae can then infect the snailswhich emit substances that enter the organism of the Humans. It is somewhat difficult, since it must coincide that there are species of snails that serve as an intermediary for the parasite. Not all are worth. But, if that is the case, something as strong as the passage of a parasite to a new continent can happen. For something as simple as peeing in the river.
And, just as it happens with this parasite, it could happen with other diseases. Therefore, it is no longer just about the environment, but also about the health of the following bathers. In short, neither in the sea, nor in the pool, nor in the river. Find another place to urinate.