Pollutants, brought into a swimming pool by bathers, will react with
chlorine to form disinfection by-products (
DBPs). Some of these
DBPs are found to be respiratory and ocular
irritant and might be associated with
asthma, or might even be carcinogenic. As
DBPs in swimming pools are formed from bather-shed-
pollutants, a reduction of these
pollutants will lead to a reduction of
DBPs. Until now, however, the release of
pollutants by bathers has not been studied in detail. The study described in this paper focuses on the release of these
pollutants, further called anthropogenic
pollutants. The objective was to define and quantify the initial anthropogenic
pollutants, by using a standardised shower cabin and a standardised showering protocol in laboratory time-series experiments and on-site experiments in swimming pools. The time-series experiments resulted in a definition of the initial anthropogenic
pollutant release: the amount of
pollutants released from a person in a standardised shower cabin during the first 60 s of showering. The data from the time-series experiments were used to create a model of
pollutant release. The model can be used to predict the initial anthropogenic
pollutant release as well as the effects of showering. On-site experiments were performed at four different swimming pools, including one outdoor pool. Results of these on-site showering experiments correspond with the time-series and model outcomes. Anthropogenic
pollutant release (both chemical and microbiological) in swimming pool water can be reduced by pre-swim showering, very likely resulting in decreased
DBPs formation and
chlorine demand.