Natural swimming at home

Swimming in crisp, clean berg water, trickling down the rocks and into a pool is a luxury you can have every day, at home, with natural pools.

Following the trend of living an organic lifestyle, natural pools offer an organic swimming experience, which leaves your skin soft and will not turn your hair green.

According to Rock-It, a KZN company that have been doing natural rock pools since 1994, they are receiving an increasing number of enquiries for new natural pools as green technologies become more sought after.

“The most enquiries relate to swimming pool conversions where people have a conventional pool and are investigating the feasibility of converting their pool to a natural pool. Increasingly, as people become aware of carbon footprint, environmental and sustainability issues, natural pools are becoming part of new pool designs,” said Rock-It owner, Guy Haines.

The reason for the conversion is that natural pools have clear benefits over traditional pools: swimming in pure, aerated natural water as in a mountain stream, is soft on the eyes and skin; no harmful chemicals are added to the water and the costs associated with these are eradicated; easy and cost effective maintenance; attractive landscaping / waterscaping possibilities as the regeneration zone wetland and waterfalls may be used as central features in the landscape.

“The water in a natural pool is filtered and purified just as it would occur in nature, that is through a biological filter created by a specially designed wetland around the pool,” said Haines.

“We have recently completed a unique pool, built around a forest spring in Ballito, which mean that the water to the pool is supplied by a perennial spring and is recycled through a wetland to help purify and filter the water,” he said.

Although no chemicals are required and general maintenance costs are much lower with natural pools, they do require some work.

“A UV sterilizer may be fitted to kill bacteria and the UV tube should be replaced every year. If a sand filter is fitted, regular back washing is recommended.”

He added that the surfaces of natural pools will become slippery, therefore weekly brushing may be necessary.

With electricity becoming more expensive and load shedding kicking in regularly, it is possible to fit a natural pool with a low volume or low power pump, which will result in considerable savings or even a solar electric pump.

So there is no need to hike in the mountains in search of a rock pool, as you can now have your own, natural rock pool at home.