Have you ever jumped in the water at the beach and then realized that you just have to go? Do you get out of the water and head to the public bathroom, or do you just urinate in the ocean?

In a survey done by Charmin (ironic, huh!) last year, two-thirds of people they asked admitted to doing just that, half of those more than once.

Sounds gross, right? But then again, some of the nearby public bathroom choices may be just as gross.

Is peeing in the sea dangerous? One myth is that it can attract sharks, but scientific research says that’s not true.

It is well known that urine can cause damage to coral reefs, so that’s a place to avoid.

Human urine is 95 percent water, along with sodium chloride (basically table salt), potassium and urea (which is how the body gets rid of nitrogen). The ocean is water, salt, potassium and chloride, too.

One thing that the ocean does not have is urea, at least not the human kind, unless we donate it to the sea. The nitrogen in urea can actually combine with ocean water to produce ammonium, which is actually food for the plants and animals there.

Nitrogen compounds are also used in fertilizer, and urea is used in some moisturizers that we put on our skin. (You should see how it eliminates callouses on the bottom of the feet. Amazing!)

So yes, peeing in the ocean can feed sea life, which of course pees there as well. Whales can produce 250 gallons of urine daily. Even if all the humans in the world urinated in the ocean at the same time, it would not create any major concentration of urea. But I don’t think I’d want to swim there.

Because the water moves constantly, there really isn’t a concern about overgrowth of algae, like they had in Germany with the death of 500 fish as a result.

So, don’t pee in a small body of still water, which that could have negative effects on the environment, like algae.

What about the pool?

That’s another story. The presence of urine in a pool might interact with other chemicals such as chlorine, to produce byproducts known as cyanogen chloride and trichloramine.

These substances are not good for the body, and can cause respiratory problems or skin irritation in swimmers.

But even more disturbing than that is knowing that over half of pools tested by the Centers for Disease Control in 2013, 58%, contained E coli, a bacteria found in fecal matter. Yes, there is poo in the pool as well.

Considering that the nitrogen fertilizer from pee can help things grow, it isn’t that far fetched to think that the bacteria might grow too, and if they multiply too much…. Well that’s why some people can actually get sick by swimming. In fact, just one diarrheal incident in a pool can release over 100 Cryptosporidium oocysts into the water, making even one mouthful contagious.

The message is clear. If you want to go swimming, and you have to pee a bit, okay if you are in the ocean not near a coral reef or a small body of still water.

But no to pool peeing. And shower — before and clearly after you are in the pool.

No one wants to swim in what could essentially become a toilet. Go find a real one if you need it.

And wash your hands, too.

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