Every acre-foot of lake is over 325K gallons or well over a million liters. A typical destination lake will have over half-trillion (0.5 x 10¹²) gallons of water in it.
Your and your 1000 friends' pint/500mL of urine isn't going to do anything meaningful to the lake.
I enjoy public lands quite a bit; people really should adhere to Leave No Trace[0] principles quite strictly - which says to urinate at least 200 feet from water sources. People always want to be a lawyer about why each rule does or doesn't apply to their specific situation. And we all suffer for it.
> Urine will not harm vegetation or soil, according to Leave No Trace, however it may attract wildlife. When locating a discrete spot, follow Leave No Trace guidelines to travel on durable surfaces as well as stay 200 feet away from water sources. Dilute the urine afterwards by pouring water over it.
I gather urinating in lakes is okay even by the strictest standards.
BTW, it depends on the climate. Somewhere like the Grand Canyon that is quite dry other than the big river flowing through it along with some streams and other tributaries, the preference is to pee in the river.
I agree that in the Northeast, the preference is to do it away from water sources.
I remember an open reservoir being emptied because surveillance video showing a person peeing in it got publicized; millions of gallons gone to waste because people are more disgusted by human urine than they are by decomposing possums.
