Water ingestion during water recreation

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Recreational Safety
• Risk Assessment Modeling

Background:

• Quantitative risk assessments for water recreation rely on water ingestion rate data.
• Existing data primarily covers swimming, lacking estimates for limited-contact activities like canoeing, fishing, and kayaking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate water ingestion rates during limited-contact water recreation activities.
• To provide data for more accurate health risk assessments in water recreation.

Main Methods:

• Survey research with 2705 participants on Chicago area surface waters for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing.
• Survey research and cyanuric acid analysis with 662 participants in outdoor pools for various activities.
• Development of translation factors to quantify self-reported water ingestion volumes.

Main Results:

• Less than 2% of canoers/kayakers on surface waters reported swallowing a teaspoon or more.
• Pool swimmers were 25-50 times more likely to report swallowing water than limited-contact surface water users.
• Estimated mean and upper confidence water ingestion for limited-contact surface recreation: 3-4 mL and 10-15 mL, respectively.

Conclusions:

• Water ingestion during limited-contact recreation is significantly lower than during swimming.
• The derived estimates can enhance the accuracy of health risk models for water recreation.
• This study fills a critical data gap for assessing risks associated with diverse water activities.