Natural Swimming Pool Photo Gallery

[waterbear]

No surprise here as far as I am concerned.

[JimK]

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

+1

Yeah, those pools are beautiful but I'd have a hard time enjoying myself in a pool where I couldn't see what else might be in there with me. I don't even get in my own pool at night unless I first shine a flashlight down in there or light the torches to make sure I won't have any 'company'! As Ben knows, I'm not 'zactly' a critter type of gal!

Same here. For some reason spiders love to get in our pool at night. If I want to get in at night I have to turn on the light first and scoop them out, and while I'm in there I'm constantly scanning the surface for more. Not exactly very relaxing.

[PoolDoc]

Maybe, we need to collect and send you some Phidippus audax jumping spiders, so you can do aversion therapy with them. We think they're kinda cute, and their behaviour and intelligence is amazing. We've been handling them for years, and have never been bitten, even though they reportedly have a pretty hefty bite, and definitely have some impressive fangs. This is a good video (DON'T LOOK, WaterMom!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1560DOYU_AY

We had a much larger one on the kitchen table 2 weeks ago -- it was fun to give it a fly, watch it pounce, and then carry the fly around like a cat with a mouse. (Of course, cats don't leave mice completely desiccated when they're done with the mice -- wish they did!). But we let it go, so I can't include a picture.

[Sean OBrien]

Growing up - that was pretty much all we had access to. In ground or above ground pools were almost unheard of in the area (unless you went to one of the big athletic centers). Lakes and private swimming holes were the place to be. While you definately have a set of concerns to deal with that are different than those in a chemically controlled pool, I wouldn't be very worried, as long as the water was clear enough to see the bottom (to avoid unwelcome guests like snapping turtles or gators on the southern side of things.

A few years back, my wife brought home a magazine that had an article on the subject (think she bought it for a recipe or something along those lines):

http://www.grit.com/Tools/Build-Your...ming-Hole.aspx

The end of the article there is a link to a British company who deals with natural swimming pools. They might have additional data regarding the safety concerns. Either way, they have a lot of pictures.

Was an interesting read and we ended up turning a segment of our pond into a dedicated swimming area. The pond itself was part of a garden with koi in the wild part and a filtration system to match their needs. We had the water tested with the SD Ag Extension office and it came back clean for the usual suspects. In most actual controlled environments the amoebas are almost unheard of (they don't swim well - so they like really stagnant and dark waters). Other bacteria are apparently also dealt with by exposure to sun and aeration (so you are better off shallow than deep).

Anywho, wasn't what I cam here for - but when I was looking for different ideas on dressing up the concrete and vinyl swimming pool, I stumbled on this thread.

[IGnatius T Foobar]

Yowza. Those pools are lovely to look at, but I wouldn't let my family swim in them.

We prefer our water 100% free of life forms that are not us.

[mauipool]

Hi all, We are getting closer to starting our swim pond/aquaculture project. We hope to plant some nice edibles amongst the water lilies and plan on putting in taro, and rice along with other usual water filtering reeds and such. I really like the above link to grit build your own. One thing we will do differently is instead of soil as a substrate for the plants: we are going to use washed gravel. (Not sure yet just how I'm gonna wash all that gravel...) The idea is to get the plants to keep the water pretty nutrient free to prevent algae.

I also agree with people about the concerns over catching things from fellow swimmers... but it's at our house. AND I was So bummed out the other day, I took my 2 toddlers to the beach, and the sewer afew miles away must've had a spill... anyway there were hundreds of thousands of human excrements all over the beach and floating in the seaweed. It took us a minute to really register what it was. Then we got outa there. It has really spurred me on to get our home entertainment sorted out. Talk about pathogens, it was like swimming in a public porta potty.

[PoolDoc]

A couple more: