Recreation

In Southern Florida, where I live, swimming pools are ubiquitous. Many housing developments have community pools, and more and more homeowners have their own pools in their backyards.

Each of these pools, of course, requires weekly (or more frequent) treatment with chlorine and muriatic acid, or some similar combination of chemicals, to disinfect the water and maintain a tolerable pH.

But what if (assuming you had the money for a pool at all), instead of building a conventional swimming pool behind your house, you built a natural, lush, swimming "pond" with non-sterile, yet clean and filtered water? (After all, water at ocean and other bathing beaches isn’t sterile, yet people love it and safely swim in it.)

Sharing that pond with you, the swimmer, would be aquatic and semi-aquatic plants, and (perhaps) some non-aggressive, colorful fish. Instead of using a conventional pool filter, such a pond could benefit from the filtering effect of the plants, combined with a "bio-filter" using beneficial bacteria (as in modern water-treatment plants) and perhaps a mechanical filtration system.

A pool of this design can be built of concrete with natural rocks set into it. It can contain one or more waterfalls, and also be surrounded by thick green vegetation, creating a much more inviting retreat than a conventional swimming pool.

Such a pool, balanced with the right combination of plants and fish, will not create the conditions for much algae to grow on its sides. And what algae does grow won't look out-of-place or create a problem.

With a pool like this (which is essentially a giant aquarium that people can swim in), you don't have to worry about it looking pristine all the time. In fact, you don't want it to. And as long as there are plenty of plants and not too many fish, the water will stay clear and fresh, and once the “system” is balanced, the filter can almost become an afterthought. In effect, you’ve created your own natural swimming pond.

This is a concept that hasn’t yet taken off in the United States. But in Europe, long known for its “green” citizens and sophisticated aquarium hobbyists, an Austrian company known as Biotop is building natural swimming ponds for home and commercial applications.

There are many design and maintenance considerations, of course, including avoiding water-borne human illnesses like leptospirosis while ensuring the water is safe for its non-human inhabitants, such as fish (although Biotop doesn't recommend them), amphibians, etc. But natural-style pools in Europe have been shown to meet the extremely stringent German water purity laws, so there is no doubt that they can be built to be as safe as any other swimming pool.

And think of how exciting it could be to step out of your back door into a lush, jungle-like setting, with your own secluded “swimming hole”! To me, at least, it’s a much more appealing prospect than having a conventional swimming pool, whose chemical-laden water will even kill surrounding vegetation when spilled onto it. It’s like the difference between the old-fashioned saltwater aquariums with their white, bleached coral and modern “live reef” tanks - a sterile system versus one full of vibrant life.

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