In all my years living in Scotland, I only remember seeing one house with a swimming pool. A gigantic mansion atop of a swathe of farmland on the outskirts of my village.

The owner had two terrifying great danes that, from a distance, could pass for sizable ponies. Next to his house was a second building. Inside, a luxurious swimming pool. I can’t be 100% sure, but I’m fairly certain the owner was a career criminal. 

I wasn’t cut out for a life of crime, but for most of my childhood I dreamt of owning a house with a swimming pool. 

It was an obsession that began with the TV show Neighbours. 

Where my pool dream began

Cast your mind back to 1987. Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan. A six-year-old Mark Serrels rushing home from school to watch Neighbours, an Australian soap opera set in a fictionalised suburb in Melbourne. I remember the intro like it was yesterday. The iconic theme song, the charming game of street cricket then…

Swimming pools.

Legs dangling aimlessly in the cool water, friends doing cannonballs as the sun danced on the clear, sparkling surface. In those moments Australia truly did feel like a lucky country, a land abound with nature’s gifts.

Swimming pools in every garden, as far as the eye could see. 

I wanted it so badly I could taste it.

Too many broken hearts

Flash forward, 2024. I’m living in Sydney Australia, standing in front of the swimming pool I once dreamt of.

It’s a nightmare.

There are leaves everywhere. Floating on the surface and lurking down below. The foliage I can handle, more concerning is the layer of dead algae lingering at the bottom. I have zero idea how to deal with it.

Months earlier I’d come close to giving up on my swimming pool entirely. For years, I’d been using an online app to keep track of my pool. It magically timed when the chlorinator and filter pump should and shouldn’t run and alerted me when I needed to add salt or other chemicals.

It was a set and forget situation until it all of a sudden it wasn’t. When the app started getting fussy and disconnecting I had no idea how to fix it. Within weeks my crystal clear pool looked like Shrek’s swamp, a dense, prehistoric green body of water no sentient being had any business swimming in.

I turned off the app and took matters into my own hands, buying a bucket load of chemicals designed to murder the algae taking up residence in my pool.

But once it was dead, I had a new problem –  removing the dusty dead algae from the pool. My little robot cleaner – affectionately named Kylie – was not fit for the task. It was a decent enough unit for the everyday task of picking up leaves and rogue branches, but this mission was a step too far for Kylie. The old robot would have to be decommissioned.

And as I always do when I have some kind of problem in my life, I approached the boffins at ÌÇÐÄVlog. Thankfully, our reviews and testing team were in the process of testing the latest batch of pool cleaners and were more than happy for me to borrow one.

Enter the Aiper Scuba S1. This new, cutting edge pool cleaner topped ÌÇÐÄVlog’s rigorous testing and I could immediately see why. It was cordless, which ruled.

A perennially kinked cord was one of the many reasons why Kylie couldn’t effectively clean my cursed swimming pool. And the Aiper just looked cool. Modern, sleek, fancy lights, multiple different cleaning modes. An absolute beast of a pool cleaner.

I decided to call it Jason.

Especially for you

My swimming pool wasn’t always an unmitigated disaster. Once upon a time it was everything I’d dreamed of.

When I first thought about moving from an apartment to a house here in Sydney, a swimming pool was the first thing on my mind. No pool, no deal. I was turning my Australian dream into reality one open home at a time. To this day I’m still not sure if I even like the house we ended up living in. It was simply the cheapest house we saw with a fully functioning swimming pool.

I’ll never forget the day I moved in. We unloaded the furniture, the fridge, the washing machine – but before we’d even unpacked all the cardboard boxes, my two kids and I decided to jump in the pool. It was July – the middle of winter. We checked the water temperature afterwards: 11 degrees, the lower end of what an ice bath is supposed to be.

The pool became the centre of my Australian life. Summers didn’t officially start until the first freezing swim with the family. Seasons were defined by whether or not we swam in the pool on the weekend. For a while I made the habit of going straight into the pool immediately after waking up every morning. It felt amazing. If I found myself in a bad mood, or had a challenging day at work, I’d go for a quick swim when I went home. Instant bliss.

Last year my Scottish family flew over to Australia for Christmas, visiting my new house for the very first time. I remember my wife cleaning the house from top to bottom in preparation.

Me? I spent the majority of my time scrubbing the pool to a sparkling sheen. The day before they arrived I spent hours making it perfect. Not a single leaf, not a single grain of sand. I stood tall, surveyed my domain in all its splendour. 

Then 30 minutes after I went back inside a gust of wind sent a rogue group of leaves careening into the pool. It was devastating. Pool management is nothing if not a sisyphean task.

But I loved it regardless. Well, I loved it until I didn’t. Until my swimming pool went from a sparkling paradise, to a green, murky millstone hanging around my neck. 

Locomotion

I sent Jason into the depths. Where Kylie had struggled, perhaps he could prevail.

With robotic precision, Jason set about his task. Unburdened by kinked cables he roamed freely, cutting perfect lines through a graveyard of dead algae.

But within minutes he disappeared, swallowed in the murky depths as dust rose from the surface and clouded the once crisp, clear water. It became immediately apparent that Jason, much like Kylie, might struggle to vacuum all the algae in one shot. 

This was going to be harder than I thought. 

But when I pulled the Aiper Scuba S1 out of the pool, it was clear that Jason had put in one hell of a shift. The basket wasn’t just full of leaves and debris, it was jam packed.

While my pool was still cloudy with algae, my main man Jason had definitely made a difference. The dead algae coverage had been reduced. What was once a carpet of dust was a little more splotchy. Result.

It took five pool cleaner runs and many painstaking hours of brushing and backwashing. But folks, we did it. Jason and I got my pool back. 

The nightmare was over. Well sort of.

Any dream will do

All of my swimming pool dreams came true, but dreams never really play out the way you expect.

Swimming pools are expensive, obviously. But I don’t think too much about that. I don’t know how much my pool costs to run and to be honest, I don’t wanna know.

Sporadic Google searches suggest it can run into the thousands. It stings to walk into a pool shop and leave with $200 worth of chemicals, but I believe it’s best to simply switch my frontal lobe off and enjoy my pool like the primitive man I am. 

Pool nice. Brain empty.

It’s a lot of work, but I don’t mind. There’s something meditative about early Saturday mornings spent mindlessly scooping leaves out of a pool. I feel like a very boring middle-aged monk with a bo-staff, perfecting his craft. 

Perhaps the weirdest issue is the shame. 

Sometimes I’m a little embarrassed by my pool. I realise this is a weird reaction – a very Scottish reaction. Where I come from having a pool is “posh” and baulking at that is embedded in my DNA. Australians talk about ‘tall poppy syndrome’ but Scottish people will rip the poppy out at the root, trample on it for an hour, then spit on its grave for good measure. 

I can’t pretend I haven’t felt weird about owning a pool. Sometimes I’ll be out there swimming blissfully on a Sunday evening and rogue thoughts will penetrate: ‘you don’t deserve this, you’re a gigantic fraud – a fake – and it’s only a matter of time before your entire life crumbles into a fine, dead algae dust’.

But hey – at least my pool is clean. For now.

Thank you Jason. 

Thank you Neighbours.

The post How my Australian swimming pool dream turned into a nightmare  appeared first on ÌÇÐÄVlog.

On this page:

• Our expert testers
• How we choose what we test
• How we test pool cleaners
• Test criteria explained

Our experts put a selection of robotic and suction pool cleaners to the test to find out which ones can keep your pool sparkling clean.

Here’s how we do it. 

Our expert testers

Our expert testers have years of testing experience and know how to find out which pool cleaners are worth buying. 

When testing performance and ease of use, we use pool cleaners in real-life situations to see how they compare when it comes to cleaning leaves, twigs, pebbles and sand from the bottom of a pool. 

How we choose what we test

With so many to choose from, what makes us choose one pool cleaner to test over another? As with most of our product testing, our aim is to test the most popular models on the market and what you’re most likely to see in stores. 

We survey manufacturers to find out about their range of models and check market sales information, as well as any member requests to test specific models. 

From this information, we put together a final list that goes to our buyers. They then head out to the retailers and buy each product, just as a normal consumer would. We do this so we can be sure they’re the exact same product a regular consumer would take home and haven’t been ‘tweaked’ in any way. 

How we test pool cleaners

We use a pebblecrete pool with curves and steps for our pool cleaner test. The pool and filter are cleaned prior to each test, before we dirty the pool with a set amount of leaves, twigs, pebbles and sand (spread around as evenly as possible). 

Each cleaner is set up and placed in the water according to the manufacturer’s instructions and given 2.5 hours of cleaning time in the pool. Battery-powered cleaners are recharged after 2 hours and then tested for a final half hour.

Performance

The two main performance assessments are cleaning and stoppages.

°ä±ô±ð²¹²Ô¾±²Ô²µ:ÌýWe measure how much debris is removed from the pool at the end of the cleaning cycle. All cleaners are stopped every hour and the contents of the filter basket is recorded and removed. 

³§³Ù´Ç±è±è²¹²µ±ð²õ:ÌýIf a cleaner stops, it’s fixed and restarted. The number of blockages, time out of service, the cause of the stoppage and any debris removed is recorded. Cleaners are penalised for each stoppage.

Ease of use

To assess ease of use, we look at:

• the quality of the instructions
• ease of assembly
• ease of clearing blockages
• ease of adjusting the pool cleaner if required.

Test criteria explained

The ÌÇÐÄVlog Expert Rating is made up of:

• performance (60%)
• ease of use (40%).

The post How we test pool cleaners appeared first on ÌÇÐÄVlog.

We investigate the rules around inflatable pools so you’re aware of your responsibilities – and can make sure your loved ones stay water-safe this summer.

Before you take the plunge

Inexpensive, portable and easy to assemble, inflatable pools are a seasonal fixture for many Aussies in summer, offering cool relief on hot days in the privacy of the backyard. 

But before you rush out to buy one, there are some important safety factors to think about. 

Key safety factors

As well as supervising children in the inflatable pool at all times, you’ll also need to abide by strict pool fencing laws – or be slugged with hefty fines. 

But these laws are strict for a very good reason. “Young children are the age group at highest risk of drowning,” says Alison Mahony, national manager of research and policy at Royal Life Saving Society Australia (RLSSA). 

“Between 1 July 2002 and 30 June 2021, 532 children aged nought to four years died from drowning in Australia and swimming pools are the leading location for drowning in this age group, accounting for more than half of all deaths (52%).” 

According to Mahony, an accidental fall into the water is the leading activity before drowning (77%). In almost all of these deaths, either the supervising adult was temporarily absent, or there had been no supervising adult in the first place. 

“We also know that for every drowning death in this age group, another eight children are admitted to hospital following a non-fatal drowning and tragically, some of these children will suffer lifelong health complications,” she says. 

“Supervision is critical to prevent drowning but, unfortunately, supervision can and does fail. A correctly installed and appropriately maintained pool fence is the next line of defence working to keep your child safe from drowning.”

Do inflatable pools need a pool fence?

In Australia, if you have a portable or inflatable pool that can be filled to a depth of 30cm and is used by people, you need to install a pool fence. Other water sources such as irrigation channels and fishponds, where people don’t swim, don’t share the same regulations. 

But pool-fencing regulations do vary according to where you live. Check out the specific requirements for your state or territory below:

Local council laws may also vary slightly from state and territory regulations, so contact your local council about fencing requirements in your jurisdiction before you install a portable backyard pool. 

If you don’t abide by the rules and are caught by your local council with incorrectly installed pool fencing that doesn’t comply with Australian standards – or even no fence at all – you may get a fine. 

What kind of fence do I need?

There are all sorts of pool fences on the market, but not all of them will be suitable for protection around an inflatable pool. 

If your inflatable pool is a temporary fixture in your garden, you don’t need to invest in and install a permanent fence structure made of steel, glass or aluminium. But you ²õ³Ù¾±±ô±ôÌýmust meet all fencing laws for your jurisdiction while the inflatable pool is in place and filled with water. 

Measurements you need to know about

All pool fences, including those for paddling pools capable of holding 30cm of water, must be at least 120cm tall. 

The gap between the bottom of the fence and the ground must be no more than 10cm and there must be a 30cm space between the barrier and the pool area. This is to make sure there are no gaps wide enough for a toddler to squeeze through. 

The fence must not have footholds for climbing, must be strong enough to stop a child forcing a gap in the bars or mesh, and must be made of materials and welds sturdy enough to withstand a heavy knock.

Get the gate right

Gates must also adhere to strict guidelines. They must be self-closing and self-latching, with the latching device at least 150cm from the ground, and must not open towards the pool, but away from it. Read more about pool-fence safety standards.

RLSA’s Alison Mahony says pool fencing, be it temporary or permanent, should be checked regularly to make sure it’s in good working order. 

“Unfortunately, children have died from drowning as a result of a pool gate being propped open, perhaps to allow easy access for adults or pets,” she says. 

“However, this also allows young children to wander into a pool area unaccompanied by an adult. Never prop the pool gate open.”

Can I use a portable pool fence? 

Yes. Portable pool fences are designed for temporary use around above-ground and inflatable pools. They still have to meet the same pool-fencing standards as any other pool fence or gate, but take care to secure them properly to the ground.

Portable pool fences can be cheaper than permanent fences. But they can still be a hefty outlay, even for small wading pools, which are subject to the same safety laws as bigger ones. So before you splash the cash, work out whether investing in any kind of pool and fence will be worth it. 

“Portable pool fencing is often used during pool construction, and can cost from $100 per panel but they must still comply with the same pool fencing standards as permanent fixtures,” says Kim Gilmour, household expert at ÌÇÐÄVlog. 

“There are no shortcuts for keeping your children safe, and not having a fence at all isn’t worth the risk. Instead, look for alternative ways to keep cool this summer with other water-based toys like the childhood slip-n-slide or visit a friend with a pool.”

Beware of unsafe models

Gilmour also warns of the risks of buying cheap pool fences and inflatable pools, both instore and online, as they may not comply with Australian Standards. 

“If buying from an online marketplace, such as eBay, and the pool’s depth is 30cm or more, ensure that the description or any photos clearly state that pool fencing laws apply,” she says. “If it doesn’t, that’s a sign the pool itself may not be compliant.”  

Pool fence recall in 2018

Make sure any portable pool fence you buy also meets Australian standards, as not all of them do. 

In 2018, after a ÌÇÐÄVlog investigation and safety-test failures, a portable pool fence available from Clark Rubber, called the Be Safe Portable Pool Fence, was recalled nationwide for failing to meet safety standards and letting children gain access to backyard swimming pools.

“With pool fences, always look for compliance with Australian Standard AS1926.1 – Safety Barriers for Swimming Pools,” says Gilmour.

Other safety considerations

Read warning labels on pools and fences

Under Australian consumer law, pool and pool-fence manufacturers and retailers must provide clear warning labels and instructions with these products. Use this information, together with information from your local council about your responsibilities for safe use of the pool.

The ACCC takes rules and regulations around water safety very seriously. If products don’t comply, retailers can be dealt big fines. In August 2021, the Federal Court ordered sports warehouse Decathlon (Australia) to pay penalties of $1.5 million for selling 66 portable pools, which were more than 30cm deep, without these mandatory warnings. 

Beware of electrical hazards 

If you’re using a water pump or any other electric equipment around your pool, look out for frayed or damaged wires, which could make contact with the water and cause electrocution. Make sure all electrical equipment is at least two metres from the pool’s edge. 

Empty and pack away the pool when it’s not in use

Be sure to empty and put away your inflatable pool when you’re not using it – . Even empty, it may still pose a safety risk for children. “It is important inflatable pools are stored away so that they cannot fill up with rainwater or sprinkler water and pose a drowning risk to children in the area,” says Mahony.

Actively supervise children 

Although pool fences can help, your first line of safety is to supervise children in and around the pool at all times. Drowning in young children is quick and silent. Portable pools pose the same drowning hazard as inground pools, so active supervision is paramount.

“We know that children are curious about their surroundings and eager to explore, so it is essential they are supervised by an adult at all times in and around the water,” says Mahony. 

“Active supervision means giving the task of supervision your full attention, staying within arms’ reach of children and avoiding all distractions. Parents and carers should also know CPR and have the skills to respond in an emergency.”

The post Does my inflatable pool really need a fence? appeared first on ÌÇÐÄVlog.

On this page:

• Cleaning your pool
• DIY cleaning
• Pool chemicals
• Chlorination
• Pool heating

From collecting leaves and debris to keeping the chlorine levels stable, there’s a huge range of tricks, tools and products to keep your pool in tip top shape.

Cleaning your pool

All pools require cleaning to remove the leaves , dirt and other grotty things that they collect. The kind of cleaner you need will depend on:

• the type of pool – in-ground or above-ground
• the size of your pool
• the amount and type of leaves it collects
• the filtration system and plumbing you have
• your budget.

DIY cleaning

The cheapest option is to do it yourself by ‘hand vacuuming’. The ‘vacuum’ is attached to your skimmer box to create suction and then you manually push the vacuum around the surfaces of your pool with a pole. Typically, this will take between an hour and an hour and a half, and you’ll need to do it once a week.

Employ a pool cleaner

If you prefer to leave the gunk-scooping to someone else, there are plenty of pool-cleaning services around. They’ll also check everything’s operating correctly and do required maintenance. A regular visit may cost around $55 or more. One-off call-outs will be more expensive.

Buy a mechanical pool cleaner

A Kreepy Krauly is a brand of suction pool cleaner, but these days the name ‘creepy crawly’ is often used to describe products in this segment of the market. They’re the cheapest and one of the more popular automatic cleaners. A more expensive type is the pressure cleaner, and more expensive again are the robot cleaners.

Pool chemicals

Without regular sanitisation, all pools develop bacteria – which can pose serious health risks. Water top-ups, leaves, grass, dust, and even people all cause bacteria to grow; these factors, along with the size of your pool, will determine the level of sanitisation you need.

Most pool owners use chlorine. There are other options to keep pool water clean and in balance – such as using ozone gas, UV sterilisation, bromine or ionization – but these methods make up a very small part of the Australian market. Health departments around Australia generally recommend all domestic pool owners have a chlorine residual in their pool.

There are three main ways domestic users can keep their pool chlorinated:

• By hand, which involves adding chlorine manually.
• By installing a salt chlorinator, which produces chlorine and is the most common form of domestic pool chlorination in Australia.
• By installing a liquid chemical feeder, which automatically adds chlorine.

Chemical balance

As well as sanitisation, you also need to chemically balance your pool water. The chemical balance of your pool is made up of:

• pH (acidity/alkalinity level): 68%
• total alkalinity (TA): 16%
• calcium hardness: 16%

You should monitor your chlorine and pH levels at least once a week, or every day if your pool is in high use. Total alkalinity and calcium hardness levels can be monitored less frequently.

Balancing pH

Maintaining the pH level of your pool is crucial to ensuring it’s safe to use. Incorrect pH levels can cause itchy skin and red eyes, and can also reduce the effectiveness of chlorine.

pH ranges from 0 to 14, with 7.0 being neutral, anything above 7.0 alkaline, and anything below 7.0 acidic. The Australian Standard for pool water is 7.0 to 7.8, with 7.4 being ideal.

Rain, water top-ups, people swimming and chlorine will all also alter your pool’s pH. You can raise pH levels by adding soda ash (which is alkaline) or lower them by adding pool acid.

Total alkalinity (TA)

Low levels of total alkalinity will cause erosion to pool surfaces and corrosion of equipment. It can also cause pH levels to become very unstable.

The Australian Standard recommends that your TA level should be 60 to 200 parts per million. You can raise the TA level by adding ‘buffer’ – sodium bicarbonate – or lower it by adding pool acid. Bear in mind, adding acid will also affect your pH levels.

Calcium hardness

Low levels of dissolved calcium in pool water can corrode pool equipment, and high levels can create scale. Calcium hardness levels can’t be monitored using most domestic pool water-testing kits. Instead you need to take a sample of your pool water to your local pool shop for testing. In areas where calcium levels aren’t high, you shouldn’t need to do this test more than once a year – unless you use calcium hypochlorite to sanitise your pool.

Testing kits

There’s a wide range of kits on the market you can use to test your pool water. A basic ‘four-in-one’ test is a good starting point. This kit tests chlorine levels, total alkalinity and pH, as well as the level of acid needed to rebalance the pH. Alternatively, you can now buy electronic testers, which will analyse a disposable strip that you dip in your pool. These strip readers tend to cost more.

Chlorination

Manual chlorination

The most labour-intensive way of keeping your pool sanitised is to manually add chlorine. This involves testing your pool’s water to figure out how much chlorine to use, and will need to be done every second day for the average backyard pool. This might be the best option if you’re renting a property with a pool and aren’t looking for a long-term solution.

Salt chlorinators

Saltwater pools are popular in Australian backyards – but they don’t do away with the need for chlorine. Saltwater pools use salt chlorinators to convert common salt crystals into chlorine gas which is soluble in water.

• You can install a salt chlorinator in the existing pipe work of any pool. The only exception is above-ground pools with metal structures as they’ll rust.
• Some salt chlorinators are self-cleaning. If you don’t buy a self-cleaning model, you will need to manually clean the salt from the cell as often as every fortnight. Self-cleaning models don’t need such intensive maintenance, but they are more expensive.
• When a salt chlorinator is initially installed, you will need to manually add salt to your pool. The recommended initial dose is 4kg of salt per 1000 litres – about 20–30% will be lost every year due to backwashing, splashing and overflow, so regular salt top-ups will be needed.
• Salt chlorinators operate automatically, so you can go on holiday knowing your pool water will remain clean. They are also cost-effective to run and will generally last about five years.
• The capacity of a chlorinator is usually expressed in grams per hour. Some pool suppliers will express a unit’s capacity in terms of its liquid, granular or tablet chlorine equivalent. As a guide, liquid chlorine is about 12–15% chlorine, granular chlorine is about 65% chlorine and tablets can be up to 100% chlorine.

Liquid chemical feeders

Liquid chemical feeders are fitted to your pool’s filtration system and automatically add liquid chlorine, and in some cases acid, to the water.

• The simplest models only inject chlorine into your pool – the amount and frequency will be programmed by you. These units start from around $600.
• More sophisticated models have a sensor probe that automatically tests the chlorine and pH levels of your pool every few minutes, and injects chlorine or acid to keep the water clean and balanced. This means that if 10 people jump in your swimming pool, your pool will automatically up its chlorine level. These models start at around $2000, plus there’ll be the ongoing costs of liquid chlorine and acid.
• Even though the more sophisticated models monitor and adjust pH levels, it’s still recommended that you regularly test the levels yourself.

Pool heating

In cooler climates, heating your pool can give you the opportunity to swim all year round. The best heating choice for you will depend on where you live, your budget, and how you use your pool. An ideal water temperature is said to be around 25°C.

No matter how you heat your pool, a solar/thermal blanket is an excellent way to reduce heat loss overnight. These blankets not only keep the heat in, they also reduce evaporation. For this reason, some state governments offer rebates if you buy one — so find out what’s on offer where you live.

Solar heating

If you live in an area with a lot of sun and you have a large roof area, solar heating is an efficient option. Solar heating works by pumping pool water into rubber matting that is installed on your roof. The matting is hot from the sun, and transfers the heat to the water before it returns to the pool.

• In order to be effective the rubber matting should be equal to at least 80% of the surface area of your pool. Ideally the matting should be installed on north- or west-facing roofs.
• While solar heating is the most energy efficient, a cloudy day could leave your pool too cool for a dip. But in warmer, sunnier climates it’s realistic for a solar system to heat the water to 17–20 degrees, 10 months a year.
• A solar controller allows you to preset the water temperature you want.
• If you live in a tropical climate where your pool water becomes too warm to be refreshing, a solar heating system can be used to cool it down. The water is cooled by pumping it through your rubber matting at night.
• Installation of a solar heating system starts around $5000 for a pool sized 50,000 litres.

Gas heating

If you have access to natural gas, you can use gas heating to maintain a constant temperature – or, alternatively, just turn it on occasionally when you feel like a swim.

• If you want constant heat, you can use a thermostat to maintain the temperature.
• Occasional use will be more economical but it will require planning as the water will take between 12 and 24 hours to reach its ideal temperature.
• A gas heater will start from around $6000 for an average-sized pool. The ongoing costs will depend on the gas price in your area.

Electric heating (heat pumps)

If want your pool to stay at a steady temperature for 12 months a year, a heat pump can be a good option. Heat pumps use the same technology as air conditioning and refrigeration. In simple terms, they draw water in from your pool and pump it through a heat exchanger, which is very energy efficient.

• Initially heat pumps will take two to four days to get your pool to an adequate temperature, so some forward planning is needed if you only heat your pool occasionally.
• Small heat pumps start at $6000, but a more realistic cost would be around $9000 to $10,000 for an average-sized outdoor pool, plus ongoing electricity costs.

The post Pool maintenance guide appeared first on ÌÇÐÄVlog.

On this page:

• What are natural pools like to swim in?
• What's with all the plants?
• What if I don't have space?
• How much does a natural swimming pool cost?
•  What's so great about natural pools?

Australia is a nation of swimmers. Even as our backyards shrink, owning a pool is still part of the great Australian dream. With an estimated 1.2 million pools nationwide, we have one of the highest rates of pool ownership in the world. But, fed up with the red eyes and itchy skin that chlorine can cause, would-be pool owners may increasingly seek chemical-free options.

A quiet revolution made a splash in Europe in the 1980s: the development of a chlorine-free pool that harnesses the power of nature to cleanse the water. These so-called natural swimming pools – also known as swimming ponds and bio pools – took off and now number in the tens of thousands. They’re still a niche product here, but they could be the next big thing in Australian backyards.

There are 120 natural pools in Australia, estimates Ralf Schmiel, co-founder of the International Organization for Natural Bathing Waters (IOB), but numbers have increased considerably in the last three years.

While natural pools originated in Europe, they can easily be adapted to the Australian climate as our water is very soft and low in nutrients, making it better suited to natural pools, says Annika Kvist of Natural Swimming Pools Australia.

“The best water I have ever worked with is in Australia,” adds Schmiel, whose company gartenART Australia builds natural pools around the country.

What are natural pools like to swim in?

Picture this: you’re swimming in a beautiful freshwater lake. The water is clear and refreshing. Dragonflies dance in the reeds and native birds swoop down for a drink. You feel rejuvenated and connected to nature. You don’t need to shower afterwards: your hair is soft from the water and your skin feels clean, but not dry or itchy.

Natural pools make this wild swimming experience possible in a suburban backyard. These pools harness biological processes to purify the water – no chemicals necessary.

What’s with all the plants?

Classical natural pools can resemble naturally-occurring ponds, with a swimming area surrounded by a regeneration zone (or biozone) – shallow gravel beds planted with reeds, water lilies and other aquatic plants – which cleans the water as it pumps through. But they can also be more formal, with a sparkling swimming area and biozone off to the side.

 How do natural swimming pools keep the water clean?

Forget everything you know about how pools work: natural pools operate in a completely different way.

Think of conventional swimming pools as $1-a-loaf supermarket bread, and natural pools as organic, artisan sourdough: they both make a sandwich, but the way they’re made and how they make you feel can be very different. 

Chlorine sanitises conventional pools by killing virtually everything (except swimmers). Natural pools are often described as ‘alive’ since they’re literally teeming with life. Besides plants, the water is full of friendly bacteria and microscopic creatures called zooplankton. These all work to purify the water and keep algae at bay.

For algae to grow, it needs nutrients. The bacteria, plants and zooplankton in natural pools use up these nutrients so there’s none left for the algae to feed on. The zooplankton also eat algae cells and pathogens, keeping them under control.

What if I don’t have space?

Pools with biozones have larger footprints than conventional pools, but even city dwellers with tiny backyards can have a natural pool by replacing the biozone with a compact biofilter. These don’t contain plants, but do harness the same friendly bacteria to naturally cleanse the pool.

Pools with biofilters are gaining popularity, says Kvist, as they offer a low-maintenance solution with all the benefits of a natural pool.

How much does a natural swimming pool cost?

Remember our bread analogy? You’d expect to pay more for an artisan sourdough than bagged supermarket bread, right? It’s the same with natural pools. Not only are you potentially paying extra for the biozone excavation, you’re also paying for specialised equipment and expertise.

But while up-front costs are higher, running costs are lower: you’re not buying chemicals, and natural pools use smaller, more energy-efficient pumps than traditional pools.

Are they as safe as chlorine pools?

Natural pools are a relatively new kid on the block. As with many new things, the science is still catching up – there isn’t 100-plus years of research to draw on like there is with chlorinated pools.

“We don’t really know a great deal about how favourable or hostile a natural swimming pool biome is to human pathogens – we are still learning about this,” says associate professor Susan Petterson of the Griffith University School of Medicine, who was a key stakeholder in a risk assessment of a public natural pool in Edmonton, Canada.

“The biggest question is around the viruses that can be present in very high numbers and [are] quite resilient to natural processes. It’s therefore difficult to comment on whether the internal disinfection of a natural pool would be more or less effective than a conventional chlorine pool, but I would lean towards saying less because we just don’t have the data yet.”

As with chlorinated pools, good swimming hygiene practices like showering before swimming, not swimming for two weeks after diarrhoea and minimising the chance of ‘accidental faecal releases’ (that’s science-talk for someone accidentally pooping in the pool) can help minimise pathogen risks.

Safety in public pools

More than 130 public natural swimming pools have been built in Europe and the UK, and a handful in North America – all regions with strict policies on public swimming pool safety. These pools are used by thousands of swimmers each day in summer and need to meet rigorous guidelines for bacteria and nutrient levels.

There have been a few hiccups along the way – a viral meningitis outbreak in Germany was tenuously linked to an overcrowded natural pool (but was never proven), and the Webber Natural Swimming Pool in Minneapolis closed several times due to elevated bacteria levels. But public natural pools have been overwhelmingly incident-free since the first one opened in 1998, says Stefan Bruns, former Managing Director of the International Organization for Natural Bathing Waters (IOB).

Chlorine has a well-earned reputation as a stone-cold killer, but it actually has little to no effect on nasty pathogens like cryptosporidium and giardia, which cause gastroenteritis. There were 149 crypto cases in NSW in December 2016 alone, and the biggest crypto outbreak in NSW was in 1998, with more than 1000 reported cases linked to chlorinated swimming pools. 

Can I convert my existing chlorine pool to a natural pool?

Biofilters are generally the go-to if you want to convert an existing pool. It’s an easy process, Kvist says: all you need to do is install it next to the pool and drill a few extra pipes. And it will cost anywhere from $5000 for a DIY job through to $30,000+. Internal conversions, where the biofilter is installed inside the existing pool shell, are also possible.

Do natural pools need more maintenance than chlorine pools?

Natural pools without plants require the same amount or even less maintenance than a traditional pool, experts claim. You need to empty the skimmer and backwash the filter, as with a traditional pool, while a robotic cleaner takes care of cleaning the swimming area. You may need to brush edges and steps in the swimming area to remove biofilm (a layer of friendly bacteria), which can make them slippery.

Biozones require more work: you need to remove dead leaves in spring and autumn and sometimes cut the plants back, just like with land plants. Kvist likens it to weeding a garden. “It’s a matter of just getting rid of dead foliage in the pool. It’s quite therapeutic, if you like doing that,” she says.

Can you heat a natural pool?

Yes. Natural pools can be heated to around 26°C without any negative effects on the ecosystem. Some builders claim they can heat pools up to 32°C.

Do they attract mosquitoes and other critters?

Mosquitoes only breed in stagnant, shallow water. In a natural pool, the pump runs 24/7 so the constantly moving water is unsuitable for mosquito breeding. Insects in the biozone also clean up mosquitoes and their larvae.

Natural pools do attract more wildlife than chlorinated pools: birds and koalas drink from Kvist’s pool, and she’s noticed an increase in dragonfly numbers since installing it. But she says natural pools don’t attract unwanted creatures (snakes, spiders and the like) any more than conventional pools do. “That’s just a part of living in Australia.” 

 What’s so great about natural pools?

While you may love how natural pools look, enthusiasts say the key selling point – how the water feels – is difficult to convey. It’s variously described as “alive”, “refreshing” and “rejuvenating”. It’s this intangible quality that wins most people over. 

“It sounds a bit strange, but it feels very refreshing. It feels different to chlorinated water,” says Kvist.

“Everyone who swims in a natural pool says, ‘Wow, what beautiful water,'” adds Schmiel. “And that’s something you cannot describe. You cannot put it in a photo. It’s only something you can experience.”

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