Former Olympic swimmer Mark Foster and cleaning guru and TV present Aggie MacKenzie joined Good Morning Britain on Thursday to discuss the news that a Bristol Lido has asked swimmers to take a shower before using pool. It comes after earlier this week, Portishead Open Air Pool was said to have taken measures in a bid to keep the water clean.
Swimmers heading to the lido had reportedly been asked to "go easy" on suncream and take a quick shower before taking a dip. The appeal follows news that swimming pools across the UK were revealed to be facing supply issues of chemicals usually used to treat the water.
Swimming in unclean water can cause infections, sickness and diarrhoea, so chlorine is added to the pool to kill germs and bacteria such as salmonella and e-coli. At the moment the lido, run by the Portishead Pool Community Trust, says it has enough chlorine to last until July 4. They're hoping to get more supplies, but if not the pool will have to close.
Read more: Portishead Lido swimmers asked to shower before dip amid lack of chlorine
Speaking about the recent news on Good Morning Britain, host Charlotte Hawkins asked 52-year-old former competitive swimmer Mark Foster: "So Mark... is this true you've never showered, despite whatever you've been doing before whether it's a workout, you would just jump straight in the pool?"
"No that's fake news," Mark replied: "I did never say that I never shower before getting in the pool because I've been in public pools where I've had to shower before getting in the pool. But what I can say is when I was training day in and day out, myself, my team mates, even at the World Championships or the Europeans, everybody gets there, they take their clothes off and they get in the pool.
"I'm not saying that we shouldn't shower before getting in a pool. My argument is ultimately, there is a massive problem with water shortage and the amount of water people use showering before getting in the pool, which is about 20 litres before and after, I think there is a bigger problem here".
Aggie joined in the debate saying: "You don't need to use an awful lot of water before you get into a pool. I think it's really important that people do take showers before they get into pools because all of those particles on your body, sweat and any other cosmetics, body oils, they don't just disappear in the water, they mix with the chlorine.
"The more particles in the water," she added: "The more chlorine we need and as we've just heard there is a world shortage, so we need to sort this out". "I'd rather people swim than don't swim," Mark added: "If pools don't have chlorine, they're not going to open up anyway. It's people's responsibility to keep themselves clean. Don't use deodorants, don't use lotions before you go for a swim because you're going to cause problems".
Viewers were quick to share their thoughts on the debate via Twitter. Joanne Doherty posted: "I’d have no problem about showering before, but then no doubt comes the drought warning!?" and Lizzy asked: "Has this not always been the case? Our local pool asks everyone to shower before they go for a swim".
Mo added: "I thought you had to shower before entering swimming pool anyway?!! I’ve always from I was a child at our local pool". Thomas Hamilton added: "I’ve always had a shower before going in the pool. I remember having to walk through foot baths filled with disinfectant before getting in the pool".
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV and ITV Hub from 6am.
READ NEXT:
