First public natural swimming pool opens in Canada

While private natural swimming pools are becoming more commonplace, public natural pools are not. In a Canadian first, Borden Natural Pool, a chlorine-free public natural swimming facility, has just opened in Edmonton, Alberta, according to a recent report by Ben Cox on technology website New Atlas.

The completed pool.

According to the facility’s website, the pool depends on rock filters and natural processes in the regeneration basin to clean the water. Water treatment replicates naturally occurring filtration processes and the water purification system includes:

• The Neptune filter: Layers of granite rock filter the water to remove large particles — leaves, dissolved solids and larger organic materials. A biofilm on top of the rock filters out smaller microorganisms.
• Hydrobotanical beds: ‘Constructed wetlands’ that contain plants which filter phosphates, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and other contaminants.
• Intense UV from the sun: This controls bacterial levels before water is recirculated into the public basins.

The project kicked off with a feasibility study in 2010 and involved community consultation prior to design. Construction kicked off in the Northern Hemisphere spring of 2016, with works completed in late 2017 and the grand opening in time for summer.

Image credits: ©City of Edmonton website. | Main image: Borden Natural Pool — hydrobotanical beds.