As for avoiding this water on the grounds that it is ritually impure, the argument is as follows:
This water is liable to become mixed with impurities found in the bathhouse, namely vomit and urine, for these are the impurities that may be found there. As for feces, blood, and the like, they are hardly ever found in a bathhouse; if they are present on rare occasions, they are distinguishable and apparent. Moreover, this water may be used to wash impurities from the body or clothing. Many people who enter a bathhouse have impurities on their bodies, whether from relieving themselves, illness, or some other cause, and wash them off there. Likewise, some vessels may be ritually impure, as may some of the clothing washed there. Furthermore, this water often contains water previously used to remove a state of ritual impurity, which is itself ritually impure according to those who hold that view. This, then, is the argument relied upon.
The response to this rests on three principles.
The first: this can be answered in several ways.
The first is to say: the water overflowing from the bathhouse pools, and the water poured over bathers’ bodies or onto the bathhouse floor, is certainly ritually pure. Whether the impurities mentioned have come into contact with this particular water is doubtful. For even if one is certain that the bathhouse contains