Until spring arrives in North America, it can feel like you’ve been on autopilot and hibernation mode all winter. Toss that nagging feeling through the open window and let in the fresh breezes and golden rays instead. The moderate temperatures are just suitable for humans (around 72ºF), and the increased amount of daylight recalls the adage, “make hay while the sun shines”. Let birdsong provide the soundtrack to your life if you leave the earbuds at home and spot the baby animals that emerge from their shelter in the fresh dew. 

Frolicking in the spring sun isn’t just for the baby critters. What better time to take your exercise routine outdoors again? When it finally becomes warm enough to throw on a bathing suit instead of a sweatsuit and set up the shade umbrella, you’re probably itching to dive in and paddle around in a refreshing pool. While some public pools are scheduled to open around Memorial Day, residents still have safety concerns regarding COVID-19. If you need help to keep yourself distanced during the spring and summer at a public pool, the length of a pool noodle in an outstretched arm is a handy guide! As for virus transmission, the CDC is not currently aware of any reports that claim the virus can spread through the water. However, the high traffic nature of public swimming pools may still pose a risk, so keeping the goggles on at your home pool is a safer option. 

4 Tips to Make Sure Your Pool is Dive and Lounge Ready

If you own a natural swimming pool, the swimming season has arrived, and your pool is ready to be serviced. We’ve written about winterizing a natural swimming pool before, and getting your pool spring ready is just as straightforward. Before you race the kids out to the backyard to see who can make the biggest cannonball, remember to contact your BioNova pool contractor or maintenance technician to check the following:

1. Take down coverings or leaf nets that prevented litter buildup on the surface of the water. If you are doing this step yourself, don’t set the paper leaf bags by the curb and forget them, because the leaves you collect can make excellent compost in your garden.

2. Remove pipe plugs that kept water from collecting and freezing inside the plumbing, which could lead to damaged systems. Residents in Texas were bombarded with winter storms this February, and their traditional chemical pool filters took quite a beating (see below). Every step you take to prevent standing water in a system when it is shut down makes a this a less-likely occurrence, but not much can stop a blizzard’s windchill on pipes.

3. Have your natural pool expert survey the edges and foundation of your pool to spot any problem areas from severe winter weather. Materials expand and contract with the changing weather and the warmer air is a good time to see if anything has shifted or cracked.

4. It is vital to monitor the status of any aquatic plants in a natural swimming pool. Winterizing your aquatic plants in late fall should prep them for the arrival of spring, but plants that weren’t clipped below the waterline may have had their stalks or surface foliage damaged in a hard freeze. If your natural swimming pool system depends on aquatic plants for biological filtration, don’t overlook these crucial biological filtration elements. Have your aquatic plant technician give you a health report on your foliage and follow these suggestions for a clean, healthy pool that says “jump in, the water is fine.”

Nature’s Yearly Lessons

You already know that plants and sunshine go together like peanut butter and jelly. This partnership directly affects natural swimming pool cleanliness and water clarity; aquatic plants use solar energy for food, oxygen creation for us, and excess nutrients uptake from bodies of water. This interaction is doubly true in spring and summer when biological activity peaks. Natural pools with plants mimic natural lake ecosystems by using available forms of phosphorus and nitrogen. In short, more sunshine equals more photosynthesis to utilize nutrients for healthy water.

The spring season also inspires many to be creative, just like BioNova has gotten creative with our natural swimming pool filtration approach. We’re really jazzed up about our BioPool technology as the new wave (pun intended) of aquatic recreation. With a smaller space and material footprint than a traditional BioSwim Pond, BioPools accomplish the efficient biofiltration performed by plants with a more streamlined microscopic process. We’ll keep it reader-friendly in this blog, but if you want more information, you can download our free Definitive Guide to Natural Swimming Pools for 2021 here.

Bacteria with an (Out)Competitive Edge

When water mixes in the spring from wind and warmth, the phosphorus and ammonium built up in the bottom fuels increased algal growth. Historically, this has been a problem with chemically-treated pools chasing a chemically-induced water balance that can be as fickle as the spring weather. Any new input (rainstorms, bugs, lawn fertilizer runoff, etc) of nutrients into the water may trigger a bloom of algae, which restarts the balance cycle again and again.

Whatever nutrients algae can’t utilize can leave room for undesirable bacteria to flourish. These bacteria need a reality check from mother nature. That is what the BioPool filtration offers with a nature-based solution to water clarification! By mimicking a rapidly-moving body of water like a river or stream, our BF4 Biofilm Filter effectively scours the pool with water turnover rates to prevent unchecked opportunistic bacterial growth. By harvesting long-term nutrient storage in a controlled system, the undesirable bacteria is kept at manageable levels to let the beneficial bacteria survive and thrive in a microbial colony. With a “pantry” full of nutrients to snack on once they emerge from winter dormancy, good microbes have as much to love about spring as us! 

Simply put, you don’t need a microscope or a science degree to enjoy the benefits of a natural swimming pool. If you already own a natural swimming pool, you’re familiar with the benefits of swimming in the emerald or aquamarine waters with your family. For those with a traditional chemical pool, you can join in the natural bathing water fun as well. BioNova offers natural swimming pool conversions as an option for making the switch to a living aquatic ecosystem as part of your backyarding activities. BioNova’s Quality Process (shown below) details all the steps we take to make your natural pool project a success.

We mobilize our natural swimming pool contractors after our consultation to outline what your vision is for a slice of paradise. Spring remains a busy time for most contractors, though, so start your planning for next year if you want to be the premier pool party for a spring bash! Get in contact with us here or check out our FAQ page for more immediate answers to your questions like natural swimming pool cost and pool contractors in your city or state. If you want to have a natural pool ready for next spring, reach out today to discuss a natural swimming pool build or conversion so we can start the process as soon as possible.

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“The Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC) is a voluntary guidance document based on science and best practices that can help local and state authorities and the aquatics sector make swimming and other water activities healthier and safer. States and localities can use the MAHC to create or update existing pool codes to reduce risk for outbreaks, drowning, and pool-chemical injuries. The MAHC guidelines are all-inclusive and address the design, construction, operation, maintenance, policies, and management cutting edge needs of today’s public aquatic facilities.”

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Additional Guidance for Public Natural Swimming Pools

Its important to understand the incredible capacity for change that this document can offer in BioNova® leading America’s change to sustainable swimming pools. While the MAHC provides resources for building traditional, chemically treated pools in the aquatic sector, there are no practices outlined for public natural swimming pools. This knowledge gap is where the Association for Swimming Ponds and Natural Swimming Pools (ASPNSP) comes in. This nonprofit is an industry resource for education, homeowners’ exchange of ideas, and the education and certification of designers and builders. The ASPNSP fosters regulatory compliance in designing, permitting, and constructing NSPs and provides a conduit for public communication and advocacy.

With so much cross-communication between organizations, it can be difficult to retrofit the language of the current MAHC to specifically include public natural swimming pools. BioNova® North America’s Allen Schnaak has led a change request process on behalf of the ASPNSP. This request is for an updated section of the MAHC to bring naturally purified bathing water into the conversation about public aquatic health. As it stands, the operating procedure states that “Public NSP permitting in the US can gain local approval through engagement with the local governing authorities, by presenting design and efficacy data that supports health department criteria and objectives.”

Some countries are slower to embrace what the rest of the world has been doing for decades regarding public natural bathing water. The International Organization for natural Bathing water (IOB) has global partners (including the ASPNSP) that work closely with local municipalities to build public natural swimming pools. Public pool builds have had tremendous growth in Western and Eastern European countries and with international collaborators sharing resources, the trend will continue to spread!

Taking Action for Healthy, Sustainable Swimming

So what do all these guidelines and group acronyms mean for swimmers like you? The inclusion of natural bathing water guidelines is a significant step toward nature-based solutions to the environmental challenges our society faces. These code modifications aim to recognize and include procedures for the design, operation, and maintenance of public natural swimming pools which offer benefits to swimmers and mother nature:

-Contributes to swimmers’ wellbeing by providing a much healthier form of swimming than conventional solutions for chemically purified swimming water.

-Reduces energy consumption per bather or square meter compared to traditional solutions of fixed or variable speed electric pumps.

This blog will expand on these benefits more in the future, but for now, there is action you can take as a homeowner, industry professional, student, or commercial entity. One of the biggest challenges the ASPNSP faces is shaping public perception with current data on biologically filtered water for swimming. Most swimmers have grown up with traditional, chemically treated pools. However, changing minds will be based on the interactions you have with your local municipalities. This influence and knowledge can trickle down to public awareness, and community leaders can use these resources to demonstrate bather health with confidence. If you want to be a part of this growing movement of NSPs:

1. Join over a dozen current ASPNSP members in spreading NSP awareness
2. Spread your dedication and commitment to NSPs as a socially and environmentally responsible choice. Start by reading our Definitive Guide to NSPs or share BioNova®’s posts on social media!
3. Read more about NSPs and the growing importance of environmental sustainability and green building practices in the pool and landscape industry.

The shift to sustainable swimming pools will be a long journey, but one with a worthy destination. Collecting and sharing the knowledge to highlight beautiful, ecologically enriching waterscapes is part of BioNova®’s mission. Join us today in making a splash the world over!

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