Courtesy of BioOx, a SwimSwam Partner.
The November 20, 2020 issue of Cleveland Clinic Health published a study that explored the effects of chlorine irritation on athletes and leisure swimmers. In short, it concluded that chronic respiratory strain is dangerous and advised swimmers that if the air at a favorite indoor swim facility is irritating, “find somewhere else” to swim or train. It appears even the most prominent medical authorities accept that respiratory distress is a given at indoor swim facilities when, in reality, it’s a completely preventable matter. “Over-chlorination” to keep an indoor pool “clean,” “safe,” and “disinfected” is often blamed for the pungent odor issue, but that assessment is just not scientifically correct.
Strong chlorine odor is often a sign of “under-chlorination.” Though it may be difficult to read, the fumes are the result of perspiration, waste and synthetic chemicals releasing from the human body as nitrogen gas mixed with chlorine, which produces chloramines that irritate the lungs, and frequently, the eyes and skin as well. Irritation results when the chlorine level in the pool is insufficient to disinfect the water of these waste products released by swimmers.
The Cleveland Clinic publication notes that the CDC has found chloramines to “limit the movement of fresh air across the water’s surface,” where swimmers take breaths. A confined indoor space with chloramine-contaminated air can bring on the symptoms of tracheobronchitis — coughing, wheezing and throat irritation. Airway hypersensitivity can result in asthmatic symptoms — coughing accompanied by painful tightness in the chest. Often, swim athletes confuse these chloramine illness manifestations with excessively strenuous training.
Finally, the article offers advice that is simply not just practical for swim athletes or serious leisure swimmers who derive tremendous physical and mental benefits from the sport of swim: “If an overwhelming smell of chlorine around an indoor pool is causing symptoms or discomfort, consider finding another pool…one that does not use chlorine.”
But there’s no need to abandon the well-documented benefits of a chlorine disinfectant, nor make the cardinal mistake of using too little chlorine in an attempt to avoid swimmer irritation, when a BioOx® system can eradicate chlorine fumes and chloramines, creating a clean air zone in every indoor pool facility.
BioOx: Keeping Pool Air Safe…Naturally
BioOx is a 100 percent natural microbial enzymatic solution that neutralizes chlorine fumes and airborne irritants in indoor swimming environments via a bio-oxidation process, creating a healthy, constant clean air zone. BioOx is the world’s first and only biological air scrubber that completely eradicates the smallest micro-particulates that comprise airborne bacteria, viruses, odors, fumes, contaminants and toxins.
How BioOx Works
The BioOx enzyme attracts toxic micro-particulates such as those produced by chlorine and its by-products, as well as viruses, dust, gases, and bacteria that constantly circulate in indoor spaces. A bioreactor unit containing the proprietary BioOx enzymatic microbial media attracts these airborne toxins, causing an immediate bio-oxygenation process that fully DESTROYS odors and airborne contaminants. Any contaminants the BioOx media cannot fully break down and eradicate (such as metal particles) fall to the bottom of the reactor where they become inert disposable sediment. BioOx systems fully decontaminate indoor air, rendering agents such as chlorine fumes and byproducts, viruses, bacteria, dust, ammonia, and formaldehyde harmless.
Why aquatics facilities directors choose BioOx
Aquatics facilities directors and swimming coaches across the U.S., including those at New York University, Emory University, Princeton High School, Hagerstown YMCA and others have turned to BioOx to provide a permanent CLEAN AIR ZONE in their swimming facilities. This clean air zone enables athletes, lifeguards, and leisure swimmers alike to avoid respiratory distress and ocular and dermatologic irritation, empowering them to deliver their best performance every single day and thrive in a healthy clean air environment.
While extremely popular, standard air filtration systems — even those created with HEPA technology — do not eradicate chlorine gases, fumes and byproducts that cause lung, eye and skin irritation for swimmers.
Even the most expensive standard air filtration systems do not effectively break down and destroy the smallest of airborne particulates – the chloramines that cause chlorine fumes and exposure irritation — as only BioOx does. BioOx effectively, efficiently, and relatively inexpensively, destroys the smallest of micro-particulates down to those measuring 0.0001 microns. HEPA technology can only capture microns as small as 0.3 and has no ability to destroy pollutants since HEPA technology cannot SCRUB the air as only BioOx does.
BioOx reactors emit a natural enzyme to SCRUB the air, creating a CLEAN AIR ZONE in your pool area or any other part of your facility, such as locker rooms, offices, cafeterias, etc. Best of all, BioOx technology, while extremely powerful in its performance, is simple and compact, without need for an arduous “installation: the quiet units simply plug into electrical outlets. No drilling, construction, rewiring or filter maintenance of any kind is necessary. Every facility is already BioOx-ready!!
For a demo of the BioOx technology, contact the BioOx team at (301) 246-0151 or send an email through the website at http://www.bioox.us/contact_us.html
About Air & Water Solutions
At Air & Water Solutions, we’re changing the way people think about the air they breathe. We’re leaving a positive impact on the health of the Earth, and making it a safer, more enjoyable place for those who live here.
BioOx is a SwimSwam Partner.