By April McCarthy

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

There are many reasons to avoid chlorinated pools, most of all due to your health and the environment. Natural pools allow nature to provide hygienic water for swimming, and the vibrant ecology of plants and animals conditions the water so there is no need for any chemical disinfectants. These pools are healthy for people and wildlife. In fact the water quality in a natural pool is so good, many are well within drinking water standards.

Scientists have known for decades that along with the good that comes with disinfecting water with chlorine, chemicals called disinfection byproducts can also be formed when chlorine reacts with organic substances like human skin and residues from body care products.

Why is absorbing chlorine through the skin thought to be so dangerous? When you swallow water, you can count on the liver to filter out many toxins – but when something gets absorbed through your skin, it goes straight into the circulatory system.

Studies have shown that drinking, bathing or swimming in chlorinated water may increase the risk of bladder cancer. Chemicals, most commonly chlorine, used to disinfect water can produce by-products that have been tied to increased cancer risk.

Organic Pools

The nutrient level in an organic pool is carefully restricted so competition for the limiting nutrient (usually phosphorous) is fierce. In these circumstances, pond plants outperform algae, keeping it supressed and barely hanging in at the margins. A pond, low in nutrients, is a healthy environment for wildlife. An organic pool is teeming with life. If an alien micro-organism, a human pathogen for instance, enters the water, it faces battalions of hungry pond dewelling micro-organisms to either starve it out of existence, or devour it. A water analysis of this pond water showed that it contained zero organisms of e coli. per litre of water.

Swimming in a Natural pool among flowering plants of lilies, iris and marsh marigolds is a celebration of life. Soothing your limbs and mind and skin and eyes, it seems every cell in your body is telling you – this is the way swimming should be. Natural Pools work entirely with nature to provide hygienic water for swimming.

Natural pools use a fraction of the electrical energy used to maintain conventional pools. All of this is achieved without compromising healthy water. These pools have been designed to benefit wildlife – they are a nature reserve you can swim in!

The plunge pool is a proper organic pool (natural swimming pool), only smaller. And this one is small enough to fit in a modest garden to bring the delights of plunging into organic water to more of us.

Kids love this pool. They feel comfortable learning to swim in deep water knowing they can reach the shallows with a single kick of doggy paddle and an outstretched arm. It somehow manages to achieve being simultaneously cottage garden cozy and yet a sparkling wilderness.

Will the pool be full of mosquitoes?

No. The water hosts a diverse ecology, which includes fauna that predates on mosquitoes. Mosquito larvae have nowhere to hide. Dragonfly larvae, Water Boatmen, Diving Beetle larvae eat the submerged mosquito larvae, while Pond Skaters and Whirligig beetles scoot over the water surface to devour emerging mosquito larvae from above. (Interestingly, a study of a bio-diverse, naturally occurring pond on a Caribbean island showed it contained no mosquito larvae.) Also, mosquito larvae prefer still water. Water in a Natural Pool is gently circulated.

What about human pathogens in the water?

The water holds a diverse ecosystem teeming with freshwater microorganisms constantly filtering the water for other microorganisms, including human pathogens, which have the misfortune to plop into the pool. Over the last 20 years, many thousands of these pools have been constructed in Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, UK, Australia, USA. There have been no reported health issues with these pools.

What about the pool freezing in the winter?

There is usually no problem with the pool freezing over. The pool design is fairly immune to freezing. There is no shallow pipework or wall to be vulnerable to ice. The local aquatic flora and fauna will be adapted to cope with the conditions.

What about leaves falling?

The pool can cope with some leaves in the pool, but if excessive they will rot down and add too many nutrients to the pool. A net can be strung over the pool in the autumn to catch the leaves.

Do-it-yourself kits, courses and films are available at organicpools.co.uk

Previous articles by April:

About the author:

April McCarthy is a community journalist playing an active role reporting and analyzing world events to advance our health and eco-friendly initiatives.



This article was reposted with the kind permission of preventdisease.com