Fresh water swimming pool in Bali, Indonesia

[Markit]

I am in the process of building a villa with swimming pool here on the Indonesian island of Bali and would be very interested in any pointers (to threads on this forum) concerning fresh water pools, aquatic plants to use, pros and cons in a tropical environment, etc. etc.

Will happily post pictures and such.

Many thanks in advance

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

You should start reading the "Under Construction" and "Backyard Oasis" sections of the forums. Lots of threads there with useful info and our favorite, Pics!

Good luck with your build - sounds exotic!

 

[Markit]

Many thanks for the tips I'll give them a good look - I did do a search here for "fresh water pool" and "natural pool" but nothing came up and in my experience there are many, many different names. So I got a bit lazy and asked - thanks.

Exotic? Yeah, probably, but it is the perfect weather for a pool. If you are interested in some pics check out my Picasa albums: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/eboybay2/ ... r20091022#

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Well, what we consider a "fresh" water pool is just going to be your plain old chlorine pool. The only other kind you are likely to see separate references to are Salt Water pools, but even then in most cases there isn't much difference. So builders do specify certain materials when using salt, but since you don't plan to, you won't have that restriction.

Now, when you say "fresh" and "natural, you still mean...chlorinated....don't you?

 

[chem geek]

Markit referred to "aquatic plants to use" so it sounds like he's talking about a natural unsanitized pool with no chlorine. He won't find much help on that in this forum.

Markit, "natural" pools with no sanitizer and that can support plant life (i.e. no copper) usually use some sort of plant-based filtration system such as sphagnum moss. Note, however, that such pools can be difficult to maintain and keep clear and most importantly they are not sanitary in that bacteria can grow in such pools (and viruses are not killed) and fecal matter with such bacteria can be transmitted from person-to-person. For a commercial/public pool, this would be an absolute no-no since one sick person could infect dozens if not hundreds, but for a private pool you are only putting yourself, your family, and any guests to your pool at risk.

 

[Markit]

Thanks for the advice and I take it on-board, of course.

As this would appear to a be a mainly US based forum I didn't expect there to be much about fresh water pools here but from what I have learned they are catching on (slowly) even in America. They have been growing in popularity by leaps and bounds in Europe (originally started in Austria) and are really worth looking at, in my humble opinion, for those of us that can't or won't put up with chlorine.

They are loosely based on "the old swimming hole" and, admittedly, do not compare with chlorine pools in terms of clarity or supreme hygiene but if nobody craps in your fresh water pool it should be OK :lol:, and frankly if you have fecal mater in your chlorine pool I sure wouldn't want to be in it either. The only source of this in reality is wildlife such as frogs or birds and every attempt must be made to keep them out of the fresh water pool.

Many thanks
Markit

 

[chem geek]

If you go into the water, then you have fecal matter (yours) in the pool. Bacteria double in population under ideal conditions every 15 to 60 minutes. One bacteria can turn into over a million in as little as 6 hours.

I suggest you read this World Health Organization document so that you understand the increased risks in natural waters. Some of the diseases are very rare, but can lead to death as described here. Not all pathogens are prevented by chlorine, but most are with the notable exception of Cryptosporidium.

As I mentioned in my post, the risk in low bather-load situations is low, but it's far higher than in properly sanitized water.

 

[Markit]

Many thanks for that link and information. I will read it at leisure and maybe rethink my plans - I had originally intended to equip the pool with all the pipes and connections for an easy change-over to chlorination should I or future owners want to change so I will have a good think about it in the light of what WHO writes...

Thanks
Mark