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History
The first NSPs were built in Austria, where they are known as schwimmteich. The first was built by DI Werner Gamerith in his private garden . The first company to use the idea of NSPs commercially was the Austrian firm Biotop Landschaftsgestaltung. In fact, for this work, Peter Petrich, founder of Biotop, was awarded the Austrian Prize for the Environment honoring the connection between art and ecology, thus establishing NSPs as an eco-conscious alternative to conventional swimming pools. In 1991 the first public NSP was built by Biotop in Unzmarkt (Styria, Austria), followed by two public NSPs in 1994 in Hermagor und in Ktschach-Mautern (Carinthia, Austria) and two public NSPs in Taufers (South Tyrol, Italy) and Gaschurn (Vorarlberg, Austria) in 1996. . The system invented by Biotop is called swimming-teich and the company is known as the most innovative one in the field of NSP.
The market for NSPs spread into Germany in the late 1980s. In 1998, the first public NSP in Germany was designed and built by the Austrians Gerhard Brandlmeier and Rainer Grafinger.
The residential market for NSPs spread throughout Europe into Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. In November 2005, British landscape designer Michael Littlewood wrote the first major English-language book on Natural Swimming Pools.
A large portion of the American market was introduced to natural swimming pools when The New York Times published an article about Mick Hilleary building several natural pools in Kansas and Bryan Morse and his company [Expanding Horizons] building several in California. However, because Hilleary's pools utilize ultraviolet sanitizers and Morse uses trace amounts of chlorine in his pool, they are not true European-style NSPs. Morse has since built several conventional Natural Swimming Pools in California and in Thailand. Morse also pioneered techniques which create a much cleaner swimming area which is essentially free of any organic debris. The most spectacular private NSP European style in US was built by Biotop Landschaftsgestaltung GmbH (Austria) in Nantucket, Massachusetts in 2009. It measures about 1,800 square yards and was built with the latest technical equipment.
Today, there are over 20,000 NSPs in Europe, 100 of which are actually public pools in Germany. Public NSP's exist in other parts of Europe too, such as Belgium. The world's largest natural swimming pool, Bad Maria Einsiedel, was opened to the public in Munich on June 7, 2008.
Design and construction
System schematic for a single chamber NSP
Further information: Treatment_pond#Urban_areas
Further information: Organisms_used_in_water_purification
The NSP is divided into two areas:
The swimming zone is the area intended for swimming that resembles a conventional swimming pool or pond.
The regeneration zone consists of a lined overflow pool filled with specific filtration substrate (gravel, sand or lavastone) and flora. Plants used for water regeneration can be supplemented with decorative flowering species to create an attractive water garden environment. The biological processes that clean the water take place in this zone.
The swimming zone should be physically separated from the regeneration and should reach a depth of 2 m (6 ft 6 in). The regeneration zone and swimming zone must be equal in area for sufficient purification. The swimming portion of the pool can look like a conventional swimming pool or a natural pond. The regeneration zone can be placed adjacent to the swimming area or in a remote location depending on the space available.
In an NSP, swimming pool water flows via gravity from the swimming pool into distribution shafts. The water then passes through a biological fine filter/bioreactor before it is pumped into the regeneration zone. Plants in the regeneration zone are planted in the substrate, and these plants compete for nutrients that would feed algae. The water is cleaned biologically by the metabolic processes found in the substrate in which the plants are rooted. Thus, microorganisms and the water plants ensure effective, continuous cleaning. No processes beyond these, such as UV sterilization, are found in true European style NSPs.
Because of their reliance on natural environmental factors, each NSP system is built with consideration to the region and climate where it installed. Construction elements such as the biological filter and the combination of contaminant ridding plants vary with each pool.
Environmental Considerations
Typically, a chemically treated pool can discharge up to 3 times its volume of water into the sewer per year. As there is no use of chemicals[clarification needed This is clearly hyperbole, please replace it with factual information] in the water of NSPs and their water is maintained as "living" (i.e. the NSP is not drained and refilled), there is no need for this waste of water being discharged into the sewer. Also, there is considerably reduced energy consumption for the mechanical operation of many NSP systems.
Additionally, amphibious and aquatic creatures like frogs, salamanders, and snails often make their homes in the regeneration zones of NSPs. While some pool owners might be made uncomfortable by this idea, others find comfort knowing that their swimming pool environment is clean and balanced enough to support life as it is well known that these types of creatures indicate a healthy ecosystem. The equipment used in NSPs takes the possibility of this wildlife into consideration, as skimmers utilize fine sieves that prevent small creatures from being sucked through the filtration process.
Cleaning, Sanitation, and Water Quality
NSPs rely on a combination of hydraulic design techniques in conjunction with a finefilter. Materials such as leaves, pollen, dust or suntan lotion commonly found floating on the water surface are removed by a specialized skimmer or overflow channel. These specially designed devices allow optimal skimming of the water surface and reduce silting. Downstream, a bioreactive biological filter removes and retains additional particulate matter down to a particle size of 100 microns. Pumps different from those found in conventional pools hydraulically optimize water flow rates and volumes, thereby accelerating the cleaning process even further. This mechanically enhanced natural filtration produces clear, clean water. In fact, when NSPs are installed in Europe, pool owners and builders will ceremoniously wrap up an installation with a ceremonial drink of water collected directly from the pool. This is one clear way that the water in an NSP, by not containing any chemicals[clarification needed This is clearly hyperbole, please replace it with factual information], differs from conventional pool water.
Health Standards
While no guidelines for natural pool water quality currently exist in the United States, European and European-style NSP builders follow the EEC bath waters guideline 2006/7/EG concerning the quality of bath waters and their management. On March 4, 2006, new pool water standards were published in the Official Journal of the European Union. These standards, enacted throughout Europe within two years, outline the methods of monitoring pool water quality. Unlike conventional North American swimming pools whose sanitation levels are monitored by testing for proper pool chemical balance, European NSPs have standards for bacterial levels. Peter Petrich, an originator of natural swimming pools in Austria, has said that the risk of swimmers becoming sick is "very low."
Properly built public NSPs in Europe, some that see up to 3,000 swimmers/? m per day, are able to meet these high sanitation standards. Others accept 1000 visitors /3046m per day. Thus, the efficacy of the NSP cleaning process remains in little doubt.
Temperature and Feel
Certain undesirable microorganisms are able to survive at sustained temperatures over 82F. For this reason and for environmental considerations (namely, energy consumption), traditional European NSPs often eschewed heating systems. Recently, however, earth-friendly heat pumps and solar panel warming systems can be incorporated into NSP construction.
The water in NSPs, being 100% chemical free[clarification needed This is clearly hyperbole, please replace it with factual information], has many desirable characteristics. For example, the red eyes, dried out skin and hair, and bleached bathing suits associated with overly chlorinated water is not an issue with NSPs
Care and Maintenance
Each NSP is totally unique, and so each has a different "break-in" period during which the system finds balance. While NSPs can be used for swimming immediately, it takes approximately two to three years until a stable biological equilibrium is reached. Once an NSP has reached equilibrium, it requires considerably less regular maintenance than a conventional swimming pool. Seasonal care and maintenance is still required over the course of the year, though even this differs from care of a conventional swimming pool. For example, ducks and other water fowl in migration have been known to visit NSPs during the winter months.
Spring
As winter turns to spring, plants in the regeneration zone must be pruned and tended to to avoid over growth, just as in any typical garden. Any dried or dead plants must also be removed.
Migratory water fowl also tend to stop at natural swimming ponds in the late winter and early spring months. While they may add to the bucolic aesthetic of a well-built NSP, steps must be taken to minimize any foreign contaminants that would compromise swim water quality that such animals can introduce to the NSP (e.g. installing filtering plants such as Water Hyacinth and Water Lettuce).
Summer
On windy, warm, and dry days, water can evaporate at the rate of up to 1 cm per day. If the water level gets too low, water must be refilled in order to protect the plants planted hydroponically in the regeneration zone.
Autumn
Dead leaves that fall off trees can make their way into the pool and decompose, introducing microorganisms and nutrients that may serve as food for algae growth. In the late autumn months, netting can be stretched over the pool to catch larger leaves before they fall into the NSP.
Winter
While NSPs are allowed to freeze over, and many owners enjoy seeing frozen ponds in their backyards, extended freezes should be avoided as carbon dioxide can accumulate underwater, unbalancing the NSP system. Excessive snow cover may also damage the plants in the regeneration zone.
References
^ Forschungsgesellschaft Landschaftsentwicklung Landschaftsbau home page, accessed May 22, 2009.
^ Natural Swimming Pools , by Michael Littlewood, Schiffer Publishing, 2005, Page 16
^ http://www.swimming-teich.com/
^ http://www.biotop-natural-pool.com/about_awards.html
^ http://www.swimming-teich.com/pdf/Magazin_2008.pdf
^ Natural Swimming Pools , by Michael Littlewood, Schiffer Publishing, 2005, Page 18
^ a b "From Europe, a No-Chlorine Backyard Pool". The New York Times. April 5, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/garden/05pools.html. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
^ http://www.swimming-teich.com/pdf/magazine/Magazin_2009_klein.pdf
^ Natural Swimming Pools, by Michael Littlewood, Schiffer Publishing, 2005, Page 19
^ NSP in Belgium; Boekenberg
^ BioNova Australia, accessed May 22, 2009
^ "Amphibian Facts". Hamline University's Center for Global Environmental Education. http://www.hamline.edu/cgee/frogs/science/frogfact.html. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
^ "Gardening: Wet and wild" (PDF). The Independent. July 6, 2002. http://www.swimming-teich.com/pdf/independent.pdf. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
^ a b "The Greening of the Swimming Pool". New Jersey Countryside Magazine. May/June 2008. http://rin-robyn-pools.blogspot.com/2008/05/greening-of-swimming-pool.html. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
^ NSP Boekenberg measuring 3046m
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