What happens in Vegas’ pools, stays in Vegas’ pools — and that’s not necessarily a good thing.
Long known for its nightlife, Sin City has developed a thriving “daylife” industry of pool parties packed with revelers looking to get wild, have (more than) a few drinks, and splash around the shallow end.
The soirees may be teeming with pretty people — but when it comes to the water, things can get downright ugly. How ugly? The Daily decided to go undercover and find out.
We hopped into the fray at five of Vegas’ hottest pool parties — Wet Republic at MGM Grand, Rehab at the Hard Rock Hotel, Tao Beach at the Venetian, Ditch Fridays at the Palms, and Liquid at Aria — and recruited two independent labs, Effex Analytical Services and Synergy Labs (the facility used by the Las Vegas police to analyze forensic evidence), to suss the samples out for bacteria, urine and whatever other unsettling things that they could find.
The results might make you think twice before diving in.
Our first concern with a bunch of boozers was, well, number one. After throwing back a few cold ones, we suspected more than a few of the tipsy, sun-kissed frolickers were forgoing trips to the restroom in favor of in-pool urination.
Our tests found pee in all of the water samples, but some pools contained considerably more urine than others.
Synergy Labs decided the best way to figure how much urine was present was to test for a breakdown product of alcohol called EtG, or ethyl glucuronide — a good indicator, they say, given that pretty much everyone at these parties is drinking.
Tao Beach ranked worst-in-class, followed by Wet Republic. Liquid had the lowest levels of the yellow stuff, registering less than a third as much as Tao. (See bar chart for full results.)
It sounds reasonable, but the analyst who processed the results was stunned that the chemical was present in measurable levels at all.
“The fact that we’re detecting EtG is amazing,” said Synergy Labs director Isaac Ferrall. “You shouldn’t detect EtG in water. My opinion would be there’s a lot of urine in the pool.”
One female partier at Tao Beach didn’t need a forensic test to know the water was filthy. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I was just in there!” she remarked as she toweled off and noticed the murky water filled with discarded lime wedges, stray napkins, and other party shrapnel.
Pee in the pool is bad, but germs are worse, and that’s what our testers found at Rehab at the Hard Rock Hotel, where water samples tested positive for a bacterium called acintobacter. While not usually considered to be dangerous, strains of the organism can cause pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and skin infections.
Dale A. Devitt, a biology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, suggested these clubs ought to raise the bar.
“The fact that you detected acintobacter does indicate something about the standards that are being maintained at some of those pools,” he warned.
The other pools, thankfully, tested negative for bacteria.
But even with the best-behaved and most hygienic patrons, the sheer numbers of partygoers these pools are accommodating — Tao Beach sees more than 2,000 people on some weekends — are bound to lead to some undesirable unknowns in the water.
To see how dirty things get, we tested all five pools for “solids” — essentially, anything that floats or dissolves in water: sweat, sunscreen, pool chemicals, hair, dead skin and other unpleasant human byproducts. The Southern Nevada Water Authority recommends draining pools with “total dissolved solids,” or TDS levels, exceeding 1,500 parts per million.
The Palms came dangerously close to that mark, with a TDS count of 1,350. Devitt compared Tao Beach’s relatively low 736 TDS level to untreated water from the Colorado River, and likened Liquid’s TDS score of 1,220 to “treated sewage effluent.”
The Daily reached out to all five establishments for comment. A spokesperson for Rehab said they are "following up to test our water to identify any issues," while a representative for the Tao Group said in a statement: “We are currently investigating the matter and will continue to take all steps necessary to ensure TAO Beach meets or exceeds the highest of standards.”
Bottom line: When it comes to chilling out at Vegas’ hottest dayclubs, you might want to kick back in a cabana, and stay out of the water.