Swimmer's air: overcrowded swim lanes can overtax ventilation systems. (In My View).(Brief Article)

Anyone who has stepped into an indoor pool has noticed it -- that sudden whiff of moisture-laden air, laced with chlorine, that instantly identifies an indoor pool.

While poor water-quality management or air handling are most often blamed for this condition, there's another factor that even the best air-handling systems often cannot overcome: swim-team overload.

Team practices with large numbers of swimmers in the pool at the same time will create air problems regardless of the most sophisticated air-handling technology. But we can't blame the swimmers: The coaches are the primary culprits.

Chlorine is overwhelmed

The reduction of available pool time and pool lanes, and the increasing cost of pool time, has forced some coaches to load up available lanes with too many swimmers. While it might be physically feasible to put 10 swimmers in a lane, it is not chemically feasible.

Following vigorous workouts, swimmers' bodies try to cool off by releasing large amounts of perspiration into the water. Their sweat is loaded with organic contaminants that are instantly attacked by the chlorine in the pool.

But the contaminants are too much. Ten swimmers in a lane and 40 in the pool obliterate the chlorine residual. The remaining chlorine attempts to oxidize the perspiration wastes, but instead combines with the wastes to form chloramines. These chloramines then off-gas from the swimmer's skin and the surrounding water, polluting the air. The air begins to smell, the swimmers begin to cough and the coach storms into the pool manager's office to complain about the pool's maintenance.