Scuba divers’ rinse tanks are full of bacteria - recent news

[DandyDon]

But has anybody heard of an outbreak of disease amongst tourists in Honduras?

Oh, people get ill on trips, so minimizing the possible causes reasonably seems prudent to me. I don't use snotty mask buckets nor rinse my mouthpieces in communal rinse tanks in part for the yuck factor but in part to avoid others' snot, slobber, etc. I think that the urine being washed off of their wet suits is sterile, but I still prefer to not share it.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Assuming no bladder infection, urine is sterile when it is emitted, but what happens after that can get pretty scary. Still I'd prefer not to get peed on or share a rinse bucket. In a similar vein, out of courtesy I try not to use my pee valve during air sharing drills even with a long hose.

Bacteria is everywhere and I agree that you will find harmless bacteria in/on just about everything. The experiment would have been better designed had they sampled the water being used to fill the rinse tank before it was put there (since the tanks were observed beign filled on some days, a sample coudl have been collected from the source.)

It also would have been useful to sample the "empty" tanks to see what remained. Beyond that the assumption that contamination would increase throughout the day was probably valid, but logic woudl indicate that the results would be confounded by left over contamination from the day before and a lack of emptying, disinfecting and drying of the rinse bucket over night.

Personally, from a gear maintenence perspective, I think rinse buckets cause more problems than they solve. The snot, drool and urine issues aside, the water gets progressively more brackish as the day progresses and the effects of a brief rinse are marginal at best. You'd be a lot better off just rinsing/soaking your stuff in the hotel room bathtub at night.

Also, things tend to be rushed at the rinse bucket so dust covers are often left off, or more subtly no one checks to see if the o-ring on a hard plastic dust cover is even still present so water intrusion into the first stage is common.

Rinsing the gear with a FW hose while everything is still connected to the tank and pressurized is also a good option if a dockside hose is available or if liveaboard FW supplies allow.

 

[Stargazer]

Yes, bacteria are everywhere including in the water...both salt and fresh...but the density of bacterial colonies shown in the article appears to be far higher than anything which would be considered "safe" in water for bathing or drinking.....whether the bacteria in rinse tanks are human pathogens or not is the next question.

 

[DandyDon]

Yes, bacteria are everywhere including in the water...both salt and fresh...but the density of bacterial colonies shown in the article appears to be far higher than anything which would be considered "safe" in water for bathing or drinking.....whether the bacteria in rinse tanks are human pathogens or not is the next question.

I don't have that answer actually, but my thinking is that with all the snot and slobber from all the divers rinsing masks and regs and the ammonia from the urine rinsed from wet suits and whatever else comes of their bodies - then with that soup kept warm for hours by the sun, I don't want it on my masks, regs, or suit. :11:

 

[Hank49]

It is pretty gross when you think about all that dead skin, sweat, oil, saliva...yuck...getting mixed in a tank. A lot of resorts or liveaboards, as DA Aquamaster suggested, are short of fresh water and don't have enough for everyone to rinse gear with a hose of new water.
BUT, one could set up a small recirculating system that goes first to an ultra violet light, or an O zone sterylizer, then pass through a small sand filter followed by a 1 or 0.5 micron cartidge filter. This would polish the water up nicely and disinfect it with a 100% per hour exchange rate. At the end of the day the salinity would start to rise so change with new, fresh water every one or two days.

 

[DandyDon]

Good idea, Hank - just not at all likely in that part of the world. I've never dived with you, but with the Ops I have used, I worried about a lot of safety stuff.

The more I think about this, the more I think my BC and fins are all I want to rinse in those tanks - and do the fins need it?

 

[SparticleBrane]

It is pretty gross when you think about all that dead skin, sweat, oil, saliva...yuck...getting mixed in a tank.

Ever been in a pool?

 

[DandyDon]

Ever been in a pool?

Yes, and I trust that they all had disinfectant chemicals, protein skimmers, and filters operating. Hope so anyway.

What about this beach in Korea - calm, shallow water...

 

[Hank49]

Good idea, Hank - just not at all likely in that part of the world. I've never dived with you, but with the Ops I have used, I worried about a lot of safety stuff.

The more I think about this, the more I think my BC and fins are all I want to rinse in those tanks - and do the fins need it?

I hardly ever wash my fins or weight belts anymore. I just throw them in the boat and leave them. When I go to the Philippines and go out on boats or camping at maniguin, I don't wash anything until we leave. We can't carry enough water.

Yeah, you haven't dived with me....what're you waiting for?

 

[Hank49]

Ever been in a pool?

yeah, but it's a lot higher ppm in a wash tank.