Chlorine-free natural swimming pools
Have you ever gone swimming in a mountain pond and enjoyed the freshness of the water – perfectly clear, without a trace of chlorine? What if you could have a backyard pool that used nature’s water cleansing systems instead of chemicals, which kill everything in the pool short of the swimmer?
A team of German researchers and designers has done just that. Here’s the basic idea: the pool is divided into two roughly equal sized areas: a swimming zone, and a regeneration zone. The swimming zone is not really any different than a “normal” pool - it can be a lap pool, or a bean shaped pool, or a pond. The regeneration zone, however, is where interesting things happen.
Water spills over from the swimming zone into the regeneration zone, where aquatic plants rooted in gravel act as a biofilter. Water cleansing is achieved with zooplankton, phytoplankton, and water plants. As the water filters through the plants’ root zones and a sediment filter tank, all the impurities are essentially “eaten” by natural microorganisms.
This year's ASLA conference included a lecture by Ranier Grafinger and James G.Robyn, two pioneers in the industry, who presented a slideshow of successful natural swimming pool projects in Europe. Even public swimming pools, used by hundreds of people a day, are kept sanitary without the use of chemicals. Natural swimming pools, it seems, are the way of the future for those interested in decreasing chemical exposure and enhancing the swimming experience.
If you are interested in more information on natural swimming pools, contact meg@arcadiastudio.com