Do you have a filthy bath habit in Lake Havasu?

There are only two ways to think about baths. You either love to relax in them or hate them because you are soaking in your own filth! Bath water is so filthy after a bath and loaded with germs that it's as bad as sewer water.

Science is on the side of people who hate baths. You can pick up more germs from soaking in a tub than touching your own trash can. 

Just a note of disgust here - in just 1 square inch, - yes, I said 1 square inch, there’s about 200,000 bacteria lurking around. Based on a typical sized tub being (inside inches) 23” x 54”, that would be 1242 square inches X 200,000 bacteria = 248,400,000 or two hundred forty-eight million, four hundred thousand bacteria in your tub, every time you take a bath. Ewww. Can you imagine the bacteria if it were bacteria per cubic inch? These nasty these bacteria include E. coli, streptococcus and staph aureus (staph infection).

Now, since bathtubs rarely dry out, they have now become breeding grounds for these unseen bacteria, even when you aren’t sitting in “bacterial soup”.

If you really enjoy that bubbly feeling with a glass of wine and a good book, there are some precautions you can take to cut down on the bacterial overload.

• If you are really needing that relaxing soak after a stressful day, simply take a shower first to remove the dead skin cells and bacteria that is already on you, then take your soak.

• If you are taking a bath to get clean, then this in not good news. Even when using soap, you are not getting clean. The bacteria will remain floating in the water. Did you know that you lose about 30,000 skin cells per hour, so even a 15-minute bath will leave a minimum of 7500 extra pieces in the water – and that is added to the other bacteria.

• Tub inspection is always a good idea before hopping in. If there are any cracks or crevices in the tub, they will be storing bacteria as well which will get into the water once the tub is filled.

• Are there toys in your tub? Children almost always have tub buddies to paly with. Those air holes from the squeaky toys, they are a summer vacation for bacteria. Once the toy is squeezed, out they come, ready or not. They will quickly invade the environment. If there must be toys, at least kill the organisms on the outside of the by disinfecting them. If they are dishwasher safe, throw them in. The hot water will clean them and kill the bacteria.

• Taking a minute or two to disinfect the tub before filling and hopping in will help remove the bacteria that is breeding in the tub when it’s been sitting idle.

Maybe it's time to think twice before filling the tub and just hopping in.