It’s nice to take a dip in your backyard swimming pool, but your
little oasis may come at a tremendous cost to the environment.

Water filters guzzle power, nasty chemicals keep the water sterile, and the
water itself is a tremendous waste during dry spells. In fact, this suburban
status symbol could be an ecological travesty.

According to USA Swimming and the National Swimming Pool Foundation, there
are approximately 10 million swimming pools in the United States. With the
average backyard pool topping off at a whopping 25,000 gallons, it’s evident
that this status symbol is thirsty.

And that thirst is a big problem. In parts of the country suffering from
severe drought, such as southern California, farmers and households alike
wrestle for their share of this scarce resource.

San Diego County’s main water supplier, the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California,

plans to cut back its water deliveries to the city 13 percent this summer.

The San Diego County Water Authority Board will, in turn,
cut urban water deliveries by 24 percent, increasing the
pressure on everyone to cut back everywhere they can.

The water we jump in and splash around with comes from the same source as our
drinking water, so filling up the swimming pool can create an environmental
conflict.

The amount of water it takes to operate a pool goes well beyond the initial
fill, because the sun and hot weather quickly evaporate a pool’s water. The rate
at which the water evaporates in a pool varies in different climates and regions
around the country.

The evaporation rate is calculated with such a complex formula, Pythagoras
himself would have trouble figuring it out. A simple rule of thumb for
evaporation is that losing half an inch to an inch per week is normal. But even
that amount can be a great strain on the water supply.

One way to decrease evaporation is to put a lid on it — on the pool, that
is.

Many people already have a solar cover, which looks like a giant sheet of
bubble wrap floating on the water.

But most of these solar covers go unused, because they’re difficult for one
person to put on and pull off single-handedly. Imagine trying to fold a giant,
wet blanket.

Still, the benefits of using the cover most certainly outweigh the extra
effort, because a cover can reduce the amount of make-up water needed by 30 to
50 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Evaporating water typically goes unnoticed by most swimmers, but the red
eyes, bleached bathing suits and strong chemical smells of many suburban pools
always get attention. They’re the result of simply keeping the water clean.

"The entire function of the chemicals in pools is to keep them sanitary and
pleasant to look at," explains Dr. Neal Langerman, member of the American
Chemical Society.

Any body of water, including a swimming pool, is a breeding ground for
bacteria, algae, insect larvae and

viruses. A pool needs to be sanitized to prevent the growth of these
threats, which is done with a sanitizer most people refer to as "chlorine."

"The traditional sanitizer found in a swimming pool is a concentrated form of
household bleach called sodium hypochlorite," Langerman explains. "Depending on
your local climate, an algaecide may also be needed."

Traditionally, swimming-pool chlorine comes in pucks or tablets that can be
tossed in the pool’s skimmer or filtration system. As they dissolve, they
sanitize the water.

"The puck or tablets have a high concentration and are toxic. But once they
are diluted in the pool water, it’s no more harmful than the water in your
shower. The real concern is when this sanitizer reacts with organic material,"
says Dr. Thomas Lachocki, CEO of the National Swimming Pool Foundation. "This
reaction creates disinfection byproducts, and some of these are carcinogenic."

Exposure to the chemicals and byproducts over the course of decades has been
reported to increase risks of cancer and other respiratory ailments.

A study presented at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American College of
Sports Medicine (ACSM) showed that swimmers with just several minutes swimming
in water with chlorine had an incidence rate of over 60 percent for
exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) — basically, an asthma attack
without the asthma.

The study showed that the most commonly recommended concentration of chlorine
– one part per million — in a pool increased the rate of EIB by over 60
percent.

When the chlorine was cut by half, to 0.5 PPM or less, the EIB risk rate
dipped to under 20 percent. That makes it evident that reducing the amount of
chemicals may reduce harmful risks and respiratory ailments.

According to Lachocki, the "smell" that burns your eyes and nose at indoor
pools consists of chloramine vapors, which are produced when chlorine reacts
with organic material floating in water.

"Proper ventilation of indoor facilities virtually eliminates these
chloramines and that strong chemical smell," he says.

As the harmful effects of chemical disinfection on a swimmer’s health become
better understood, environmentalists worry that these chemicals have damaging
effects on the environment.

"When you keep proper pool chemistry, follow the labels exactly as they read,
and put the correct amount of chemicals in the pool," says Lachocki. "It will
not adversely impact the environment. Most people discharge their pools into the
storm drains — the chemicals are not stable enough to worry about, they rapidly
break down and leave a solution of salt water."

Still, people worry about the dangers in using and handling these chemicals
altogether, so healthier and more eco-friendly alternatives are being developed
as swimmers go green.

One alternative is salt. New technologies have been developed so that the
pool boy can use salt as a sanitizer and limit his exposure to harmful
chemicals.

"It’s such a better way of sanitizing a pool. Our salt chlorine generator
uses low levels of voltage to create electrolysis and convert salt into liquid
chlorine as the pool water passes through the cell," explains Bill Kent, owner
of AquaCal AutoPilot, Inc., in St. Petersburg, Fla. (www.autopilot.com).
"After the process, there’s less salt in the pool water than in a human tear —
it is below the taste threshold."

"Plus, during the electrolysis process the disinfectant byproducts are burned
up reducing the risk of respiratory ailments and cancer," adds Kent.

These salt chlorine generators are relatively inexpensive and can fit most
existing pool filtering systems.

"About 99 percent of all the new pools we install include a salt chlorine
generator," noted David Pew, service manager and construction supervisor at
Backyard Oasis Pools, Inc. in Wake Forest, N.C. "The units can be retrofitted
for just about any existing pool for anywhere from $1,200 to $2,000, depending
on the size of your pool, without draining the water."

The savings make a big splash because salt is much cheaper than chlorine.

Other technologies becoming very popular are ultraviolet-light and
ozone-based filtration systems. Both are a bit more expensive, but show promise
in reducing and even eliminating the chemicals needed to keep the pool water
clean.

For many environmentalists and scientists, it’s not the chemicals drowning
the potential for a pool to be green — it’s the filter. Of all household
appliances, pool filters are the largest energy consumers after air
conditioners.

One way to reduce a filter’s energy consumption is to replace the old power
hog with a new, more efficient, variable-speed unit.

A study by the Center for Energy Conservation at Florida Atlantic University
showed that some pool owners saved a whopping 75 percent of their pool’s energy
consumption by replacing pumps and reducing the amount of time their filters
were run.

Cash-strapped owners who can’t afford to replace pumps can still find
themselves swimming in a 60 percent energy savings simply by cutting back on
filter running time.

Despite all the strides toward more efficient pools and the advances in
chemical reduction, there are many environmentalists who feel that swimming
pools are an inessential luxury item outright.

"Swimming pools are an environmental insult and should not be put in back
yards," says Langerman. "The pool people will hate me, but I don’t care. The
impact is so severe it simply doesn’t make sense."

Whether or not you agree, it’s extremely unlikely that anyone is going to
backfill their pools with dirt this summer. This suburban status symbol is not
going away, but least it’s getting a little bit greener … and not necessarily
due to algae.