There are two kind of divers: the ones that pee into their suit and the ones that lie about it.

Some articles state the disadvantages of peeing while diving, but today, we are going to support those brave ones that openly recognise that they actually pee into their suit.

According to the American Chemical Society, peeing into your suit (or peeing in the vast ocean generally) is beneficial for the environment.

While it is true that pee contains urea, a component not found in the sea, the amount of urea that we release while peeing is insignificant. It remains on the surface and it disappears fast. On the other side pee contains a big amount of nitrogen. When nitrogen gets in contact with salt water it turns into ammonium.

Ammonium is a very important nutrient for photosynthetic organisms such as algae and marine bacteria in the oceans. As they are on the bottom of the food chain, it is right to say that the whole ocean ecosystems depend on ammonium. In other words, ammonium is the food of the smallest organisms in the ocean. When peeing into your suit you are contributing in an increase of micro organisms who feed other organisms like plankton. At the same time they feed little fish who are eaten by bigger fish. For a more scientific explanation watch the American Chemical Society full video here.

So from now on, whenever you go diving please think on contributing in the health of the oceans and please, pee in your suit. It won’t smell good, so better make sure you rinse your suit before leaving the water. But our friends, the fishes, will appreciate your effort a lot.