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“This isn’t a pool. It’s more a natural swim environment,” says Jesse Banford, director of facility infrastructure delivery for the City of Edmonton.

Banford points proudly at the construction site at Borden Park, when the construction team from Ellis Don is building a very 21st-century swimming hole — the first of its kind in Canada.

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Instead of using chlorine or salt to purify the water, this golden pond — with a budget of $14.5 million — will use a combination of sand and granite filters, aquatic plants, plankton and UV light to keep the water safe for the public.

The area will feature both a shallow 150-square-metre wading pool for small children and a much larger pool — 42 metres long, 16.8 metres wide and two metres deep — for swimmers to splash and play.

The whole area will be surrounded by 1,100 cubic metres, or 1,643 metric tonnes, of sand, quarried in Thorhild, along with 11 species of native plants to create the impression of being at the beach.