Natural Swimming Pool Photo Gallery

[kelemvor]

my biggest concern with a "natural pool" would be the "brain eating amoeba", Naegleria fowleri, that exists in warm bodies of water such are found in Florida, Texas, and other subtroipcal to tropical areas. It has also been found in unchlorinated swimming pools!

Most of the cases in the US reported to the CDC have occurred in southern states like Florida, Texas and Louisiana and most have occurred by people swimming in lakes but there is a case in Orlando where a young man died after contracting it at a Water Park Orlando Watersports Complex)!

Natural pools depend on the same types of bacterial and plant based biopurification processes that lakes do so I would be very cautious about their REAL safety!

The Wikipedia article pooldoc linked discussed the importance of keeping a natural pool temp below 82f in order for the good bacteria to stay on top of the bad ones. I bet in FL, it's pretty hard to keep a natural pool below 82f in summer. I know my chlorine pool gets into the 90's on it's own... Heck, I saw 78f (water temp) last week and it's still February!

I'm guessing that's part of the reason they are so much more popular in EU.

[PoolDoc]

I think the risk of the natural pools would be very close to the risk of high quality natural waters in that climate. And, the risk of those waters is not zero. Obviously, these pools are NOT sanitized.

But, a much greater risk than Naegleria would be person to person transmission of things like various viral infections, including hepatitis. Actually, in collecting research articles for SwimmingPoolResearch.com, I have discovered that spa or pool transmission of hepatitis, herpes and HIV have apparently never been ruled out. So, in using a natural pool, my biggest concern would be the health of those I was swimming with.

It makes me wonder how natural public pools could be justified, for high density bather loads. I have NOT seen any research on pathogens present in such pools, which does NOT reassure me.

Kelemvor, the pools I found seemed to be mostly in the UK or northern Europe, so they aren't dealing with South Beach or Louisiana-like climates. Before I'd put one in Florida, I'd want to see a few OTHER PEOPLE'S natural pools that had been operated successfully for 5+ years.

But . . . those those pools, and some others I'm going to post, are really beautiful. So . . . if it was just me and my wife, we'd love them!

[kelemvor]

But . . . those those pools, and some others I'm going to post, are really beautiful. So . . . if it was just me and my wife, we'd love them!

The ones you've posted so far are absolutely stunning! Type of thing I'd expect to see on "lifestyles of the rich and famous".

[PoolDoc]

Here are a few more, all from Bio-Top ( http://www.biotop-natural-pool.com ) I think. Kelemvor, notice the evergreens in the backgrounds of several -- it's not Miami, for sure!

[PoolDoc]

And, just for comparison, here's Susan's and my preferred local natural pool:



But, since it takes a boat, followed by a 1 mile hike up a very rocky stream bed to reach, it's a little less convenient than the others. But, Kelemvor, this particular pool does have the benefit of being available to those who are neither famous nor rich, like Susan and I!

[Watermom]

You forgot the part about ......... along the trails where the snakes and spiders are and other critters are!

[PoolDoc]

You forgot the part about ......... along the trails where the snakes and spiders are and other critters are!

Watermom, you know me better than that: for me, those things are FEATURES, not problems. Even Susan finds them interesting, as long as they aren't venomous snakes, and as long as the spiders aren't ON her. (She'll even make an exception to that, if the spiders are jumping spiders!)

[aylad]

I dunno--some of the pics you've posted are absolutely beautiful--but if they were down here they'd also be full of snakes and bullfrogs.....I have a pool in order to NOT have to guess what I'm swimming with!!

Jan

[PoolDoc]

Hmm-mm. There may be a reason why "natural pools" are mostly a European thing: they killed off most of their wildlife centuries ago, so their natural pools may not acquire the sort of competing population green pools here, do.

Actually, I've been thinking about that a bit. My PERSONAL collection of critters found in pools include: black snake, ring-neck snake, garter snake, Eastern water snake, Canada geese, mallard ducks, rats, mice, shrews, bullfrogs, leopard frogs, toe biters, tiger salamanders, chipmunks, and black widow spiders.

The things I recall forum members reporting, during the various incarnations of the PoolForum include deer, black bear, skunks, in addition to the things above.

However, if you put one of those pools in this area of the south-east, you'd be able to add: great blue heron, little green heron, water bugs galore, every kind of frog known to man, and . . . and snapping turtles.

Even I try to avoid swimming with those things!

[PoolDoc]

I've been looking for water quality information on such pools, and finally found some:

Natural Swimming Pools in Lower Saxony
Ernst-August Heinemeyer, Health Authority of Lower Saxony, Aurich, Germany

Experience with a „natural tropic pool”
Christiane Höller and Schindler P., Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Germany

A Model for Risk Assessment for Small-scale Bathing Ponds
Franz Mascher1, Pichler-Semmelrock P.2, Reinthaler F.1, and Marth E.1, 1Institute of Hygiene, Medical-University, Graz; 2Federal Government of Steiermark, Austria

A quote from the first article is sufficient to show that such pools are not 'home-free' when it comes to sanitation:

Amounts of P. aeruginosa exceeding the limits were detected in almost every natural swimming pool, in some pools on a regular basis

All articles have been archived at Swimming Pool Research, so if the links die, I can restore them.