forget backyard pools, build a swimming pond instead - bloomberg business

7/23/2019 Forget Backyard Pools, Build a Swimming Pond Instead - Bloomberg Business

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Forget Backyard Pools, Build a Swimming

Pond InsteadEco pools are specifically designed to minimize environmental impactand looamazing while doing it

REAL ESTATE

Source: Clear Water Revival via Bloomberg

June 16, 2015 8:30 AM EDT

by Mark Ellwood

No self-respecting Californian can let the summer pass without a dip in the backyardpools are as much a

part of culture as the 49ers, Schwarzenegger, and dire earthquake warnings.

Now, though, theres something unseemly about pooling so much water for the occasional swimenough,

in fact, to generate its own hashstag, #droughtshaming. Theres one surefire way to mitigate opprobrium:

Build a natural swimming pond thats specifically designed to minimize environmental impacts (or

the cash premiums required to keep it up).

Typical is one example in Sonoma County, where the the water seems to leak down from the rock perched

on the ridge. Like a natural spring, it trickles and tumbles, pooling into water features as it falls one featuris full of aquatic plants and flowers, whileanother is a swimming holeclear, cool andinviting. It was bu

by Dave Whitney, chief executive officer of Eco Solutions, a pioneer in engineering such eco swimming

ponds. These dipping pools use natural filtration instead of chlorine pellets to keep the water clean.
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Think of the pleasure of swimming in natural areas vs. coming out of a chlorinated pool and having your

skin get dry, he explains via telephone from his office in Vermont. In the heart of the Wine Country, you

want something natural like this.

In the (Swim) Zone

The dos and donts of these outdoor swimming ponds are simple. Designers such as Whitney take the

planned pools footprint and divide it: Half is the plant or regeneration zone, 50 percent the swim zone. In

the shallow planting areaperhaps a foot or so deepflowering rushes, water lilies, and flag irises will

siphon nitrates out of the water and reduce the phosphate level to prevent algae the gravel in which they

grow acts as a secondary filter. The swim zone, usually from 6.5-feet to 8-feet deep, will be cordoned off

with a border of submerged timber or larch.

A multipart eco-swimming pond embedded in the landscape of

Sonoma County. (Where else?)

Source: D.Hay/Eco Solutions via Bloomberg


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Add decking to prevent feet from coming into contact with the slimy, somewhat gravelly floor of the pool

and youre ready to take a dip in the ersatz natural swimming hole, surrounded by dragonflies, the

occasional clump of tadpoles, and plenty of birds. (Designers deter snakes by keeping the grass around the

pools edges as short as a military haircut.)

It was the chance to bird watch during a morning dip that drove one client in Hanover, N.H. to

commission Gartenart, another design firm, to build a similar pond.

They wanted to draw more birds to the location, as well as deer or moose, [for] somewhere their

grandchildren could swim in nice, clear, fresh water, explains designer Michael George, by phone from

Boston. Its designed to look like a natural waterscape, though this waterfall feature can be turned on and

off remotely.

Not every natural swimming pond has to look as if it were last

occupied by a family of Hobbits.

Source: GartenArt via Bloomberg
http://www.gartenart.com/


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European Origins

This idea was imported from Europe, where natural pools have been growing popular. They began three

decades ago in Austria and Germany via such companies as Biotop, which makes sense: In those countries

locals dont hesitate year-round to take dips in bracing Alpine streams. One industry estimate claims there

are 900 public pools of this kind across the region a second calculates that every second swimming pool

built today in Germany uses natural filtration.

By the late 1990s, plant-based pools had taken root elsewhere in Europe, notably the UK: British

telcommunications magnate Charles Dunstone built one in his back garden that stretched over more than

6,000 square feet Superdry founder Julian Dunkerton is an adherent, too. Storied garden extravaganza the

Chelsea Flower Show featured one this year.

Gartenart was one of the first firms to bring the European swimming

pond stateside.

http://www.biotop-natural-pool.com/http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=1051573&ticker=TALK:LNhttp://bloom.bg/1B8UDnKhttp://www.mandgchelsea.co.uk/2015/05/adding-a-natural-pond/


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Biotop was recently hired to create the kidney bean-shaped public swimming pond in central London, a

piece of land art by artist Marjetica Potr called Of Soil and Water:Kings Cross Pond Club, where anyone

can take a chlorine-free swim just minutes from the Eurostar Terminal.

The longtime impasse in importing such eco dipping spots to America, at least until recently, lay with the

tyranny of perceived cleanliness: that pools should be a bright, almost garish blue.

Natural poolwater is clear, but it has a green cast to it because there are things living in it. The U.S. pool

industry is a very good marketer of the perfectly clear, sterile, blue water look and has made that very

inviting, notes Gartenarts George. Such resistance is weakening in the wake of mandatory water

restrictions and a more widespread focus on resource-conservation.

Enviro Upsides

Artist Marjetica Potr conceived an all-natural public pool in London,

which is accepting all-natural bathers starting this summer.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-04-15/drought-stricken-california-s-wealthy-pay-up-to-keep-lawns-lushhttp://www.kingscrosspondclub.com/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-06/california-imposes-mandatory-restrictions-to-ease-record-drought


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Though the real appeal of an eco swimming pond is esthetic rather than environmental, installing one of

these alternatives does provide some planet-friendly upsides. For instance, unlike conventional chlorinated

pools, natural swimming ponds are not heated, saving on energy costs. Lower temperatures reduce

evaporation and thus, water use. Owners can also bank the average $350 to $500 that most Americans spen

on chlorine and pool chemicals each year.

The upfront outlay, unfortunately, is somewhat higher than that for a standard dipping spot. Michael Georg

explains that cost per square foot is approximately equal, but the need for a regeneration zone boosts the

pools footprint, usually by around 25 percent. There are also constraints on locationpreventing algae

blooms in Arizona and elsewhere in the Sun Belt requires extra-large plant zones, plus ozone or UV filters

raising costs even more.

Happy Medium

Regardless of price or eco-benefits, though, most Americans still prefer a neat, traditional plunge pool to aplant-crammed woodland grotto. What about combining both? Andrew Cox runs Clear Water Revival and

a veteran of building eco-ponds in the U.K. Hes also the inventor of a new hybrid that closely resembles a

California classic but is cheaper to run and more environmentally friendly.

Weve found that those eco ponds are not everyones cup of teathey often dont like the slippery

surfaces on the side or the floor, he explains via telephone while vacationing in Abersoc, Wales.

In response, Cox has developed a new kind of natural filtration pump that uses harmless microorganisms to

A sleek example of Clear Water Revivals mashup of rustic

swimming hole and Bond villain-worthy infinity pool: the natural

swimming pool.

http://www.clear-water-revival.com/


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clean the water in conjunction with a much smaller, hydroponic plant zone that takes up only 10 percent to

15 percent of the swimming pool surface area. He calls the mashup a "natural swimming pool": It can be

heated up to 86 degrees without harming the plants or encouraging algae, and it may be installed indoors or

outdoors. The 70-100 watt pump itself uses less energy to process the water. (Cox estimates an annual

saving of around $3,000, compared with the conventional, 1.5-horsepower equivalent.)

Clean Machine

His pump is currently in final tests at a special lab at the University of West England in Bristol it has

already proven how quickly it pulls ureayep, thats peefrom the water.

We dosed a 57,000 liter [15,000 gallons] pool with 55 Olympic swimmers worth of urine, and the whole

lot was gone within 36 hours, he laughs. And youre not going to get that many adults pissing in a typica

residential pool simultaneously.

In fact, the water in Coxs pools is far cleaner than a rocky swimming hole in nature. Its so pure that he

reaches into the test pond over lunch with prospective clients and fills their water glasses from the shallow

end.

There are no chemicals in there, and its mineralizing the water, so its like swimming in Evian. And the

drinking it, too: the ultimate in water recycling.

Grab a glass and dip it: Clear Water claims its as good as Evian.



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forget backyard pools, build a swimming pond instead - bloomberg business

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