do noxious chemicals from sun screens build up in pool water?

[engrav]

So read today that Hawaii has banned sun screens containing certain chemicals from beaches. Because they damage coral reefs.

Now is true that my pool has no coral reef and Saratoga Passage where our drainage goes does not have a coral reef either. And I have a few people in a pool, not thousands on beaches. But got to wondering...

Is there any evidence / thought that such stuff can build up in pool water?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Can you post the source for this information?

 

[Richard320]

Can you post the source for this information?

Hawaii bans sunscreens that harm coral reefs - CNN

 

[engrav]

Hawaii bans sunscreens that harm coral reefs - CNN

Actually google "hawaii sun screen" and it comes up lotsa places but...

the original research might be here
Toxicopathological Effects of the Sunscreen UV Filter, Oxybenzone (Benzophenone-3), on Coral Planulae and Cultured Primary Cells and Its Environmental Contamination in Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands | SpringerLink

 

[mknauss]

In Australia they request the use of bio-degradable sunscreen when on the Great Barrier Reef.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Well, unless you’re growing coral reefs in your pool, everything is fine.

Fact is, your pool water will always build up solids and chemicals over time as there are chemical compounds out there that are not affected by chlorine or UV. Disinfection by-products (DBPs) and trihalomethanes (THMs) will always build up in chlorinated water. There’s simply no getting around it. However, most pools do see a healthy exchange of fresh water each year from rain and refill thus the build up is somewhat limited. Sun tan lotions, bodily oils, shampoos, conditioners, hand creams, etc, etc, etc, all contribute to the solids loading of your pool water. If it ever became an issue, the solution is simple - drain and refill your pool.

 

[engrav]

Well, unless you’re growing coral reefs in your pool, everything is fine.

Fact is, your pool water will always build up solids and chemicals over time as there are chemical compounds out there that are not affected by chlorine or UV. Disinfection by-products (DBPs) and trihalomethanes (THMs) will always build up in chlorinated water. There’s simply no getting around it. However, most pools do see a healthy exchange of fresh water each year from rain and refill thus the build up is somewhat limited. Sun tan lotions, bodily oils, shampoos, conditioners, hand creams, etc, etc, etc, all contribute to the solids loading of your pool water. If it ever became an issue, the solution is simple - drain and refill your pool.

Hi
Is true since I do not close the pool in winter and we have rain and so back wash. And in a winter I might back wash 12" of water. So stuff (including CYA) is removed. Cool.

But drain is not simple as the drained water goes directly into Puget Sound. However I suspect that my pool does not provide a measurable portion of the stuff that the region puts into Puget Sound.

But a question, you say "if it ever became an issue"
how would I know if it is an issue? cloudy water?

thanks

 

[FnC80]

I wouldn’t worry about it in the normal course of things. Rain water will dilute it enough that it will probably never be an issue. The “studies” done with sunscreens and coral reefs was about scientists subjecting corals to sunscreen levels in a closed tank that far exceed what they might experience in open ocean conditions and then correlate that to corals dying. Really no true evidence for real corals. Though if you like they make “scum balls” that will absorb skin oils and sunscreens from the waters surface that can be washed out in the kitchen sink.