Vigo City Council announced last summer that it would penalize bathers who urinate on the beach or in the sea with a fine of up to 750 euros. Many people thought it was a pointless measure, even though the truth was that it did make a difference. scientific explanation. As well as warnings about the risks associated with this in pools. What about other sources of water? Is there a danger to pee in the river? The truth is, yes, and for rather curious reasons.
The first coincide with the reasons why you should not urinate in the sea. However, one must also be careful with transmission of certain diseases. There have been cases of parasitism that have occurred because someone decided to urinate into the river.
Those people they didn’t know they were infected. For this reason, even if we think we are perfectly healthy, urinating in a river can be dangerous for someone who decides to bathe in it later. This is a slightly more complex reason than the previous ones, but also possible. So if you can’t hold it, try doing it behind a tree, not in water.
The dangers of urinating in the river…or 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.
First reason eutrophication. This phenomenon occurs when a very large amount of inorganic nutrients, such as nitrogen or phosphorusboth are present in the urine.
If this happens, the same effect occurs as if a huge amount of fertilizer were thrown into the water. This encourages the growth of some algae and aquatic plants, which form such a large layer of biomass that light cannot pass through the surface. What hinders the proper development of others photosynthetic organisms which were before. Besides, all that biomass compete for it oxygen with the flora that used to be in the water. Therefore, the consequences can be catastrophic at the ecological level.
On the other hand, if we have used drugs, legal or not, they are also excreted in our urine and can affect organisms that they live in water. All this happens both when urinating in the river and when urinating in the sea, so the same precautions must be observed.
Something much rarer but possible
In 2013 in Corsica was outbreak of urogenital schistosomiasis. It is a tropical disease caused by a worm transmitted to humans through infected river snails. Because it is endemic, especially in Africa and also in parts of the Middle East, it was not clear what the cause might be.
However, the investigation found an explanation related to the fact of urination into the river. The first cases identified were French tourists who, after visiting Corsica, took a bath in cava river. Later, the incidence was diagnosed among tourists and the local population. In total, more than 100 people were identified in whom the parasite was found. schistosome hematobium.
The investigation, which also involved Spanish scientists, led to some Senegalese tourists who, perhaps not knowing they were infected, urinated into the river. parasite eggs deposited in the bladder and are excreted in the urine. The larvae can then infect snailswhich release substances into the body People. This is somewhat difficult, since it must coincide that there are species of snails that serve as an intermediary for the parasite. Not everyone is worth it. But if this is the case, then something as powerful as the passage of a parasite to a new continent could happen. For something as simple as peeing in a river.
And just as it does with this parasite, it can happen with other diseases as well. Therefore, it is no longer only about the environment, but also about the health of the next bathers. In short, neither in the sea, nor in the pool, nor in the river. Find another place to urinate.
Source: Hiper Textual
