Posts Tagged ‘swimming pools’
Dramatic New Benefit of Sphagnum Moss Water Treatment Method Discovered
Creative Water Solutions (www.cwsnaturally.com — CWS) announced October 19th, 2011 that it has filed for a patent under the heading —Use of Moss to Reduce Disinfectant By-products in Water Treated with Disinfectants. The patent will cover all of its products that use the moss-based water treatment, including PoolNaturally®, PoolNaturally® Plus, SpaNaturally®, and SpaNaturally® Plus.
After a 33-week scientific study of two large, commercial indoor swimming pools in the Twin Cities area, CWS measured the levels of DBPs and VOCs and the impacts of the resulting from the use of Sphagnum moss. The test found that its sphagnum moss product, PoolNaturally Plus, dramatically reduced DBP and VOC levels, reducing odor, decreasing chemical smells and their unpleasant side effects on swimmers, lifeguards, maintenance and other staff.
DBPs are created in pool systems through the chemical reaction of the chlorine disinfectant with organic matter in a pool, or spa. Many DBPs are toxic compounds, such as trihalomethanes (THM) and halocetic acids, and are the main source of the odor and health issues associate with pool facilities and use.
“Our tests found significant DBP reductions and air quality improvements, clearly establishing another significant benefit of the PoolNaturally-Plus system. THM’s, such as chloroform, are created in the water and then move into the air of a facility. The demonstrated reduction of THM’s in the pool water correlates nicely with the reduction of chloroform in the air and the subsequent increase in air quality” says Vance Fiegel, CWS’s Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder. “Our data shows that besides reducing the amount of chemicals needed to treat water (and lessening irritants to swimmers, maintenance time and corrosion of motors and liners) the moss is also providing measureable air quality benefits:
- THM levels plummeted between 73-80% once the moss was introduced into the pools.
- Chloroform showed a 55% reduction in the air of the pool facility.
According to Dr. David Knighton, MD, CWS President, CEO and co-founder, the scientific data reflects the anecdotal reports the company has consistently been receiving from management and staff at other indoor swimming pools.
“We are very excited to discover yet another benefit of this miracle plant and innovative water conditioning agent,” Knighton notes. “Our customers at many college pools and those at indoor water parks like Chaos, located in Eau Claire, Wi., can corroborate our most recent scientific discoveries about air quality enhancement with the personal evaluations and experiences of those who work daily in an enclosed swimming environment.”
Knighton cited a representative case study recently done at Chaos with Barry Thompson, a retired Navy Master Chief who helped design the facility and currently is its chief operator:
· At most water parks, chlorine disinfection by-products permeate the air at a park’s indoor and outdoor areas: “You can usually smell the heavily chlorinated water in the parking lot. At Chaos you don’t get that smell inside or outside — or on your clothes and in your hair after you leave,” Thompson says.
· Lifeguards are reporting a dramatic reduction in headaches from chloramines and disinfection byproducts due to the reduced usage and the increased efficacy of chlorine to deal with bacteria producing agents and organic material in the water.
· The lifeguards and other staff are reporting less absenteeism thanks to a more natural, less chemical work environment.
For more information — or to interview Vance Fiegel or Dr. Knighton — please contact Martin Keller, Media Savant Communications Co., 612-729-8585, kelmart@aol.com
Summer is on its Way! Water Safety Recommendations
During the summer months, there’s nothing better for adults and kids alike than taking a dip in a nice, cool swimming pool, lake, or river. Summer is also when we head to the lake and rivers with our boats, jet skis, kayaks, etc.
Yet, as we know from recent events, water fun can swiftly become tragedy if some simple, basic safety rules aren’t observed. Make sure you and your family are water safe by following these safety policies:
BASIC WATER SAFETY
Learn to swim
The best thing anyone can do to stay safe in and around the water is to learn to swim. The American Red Cross has swimming courses for people of any age and swimming ability.
Learn CPR and insist that babysitters, grandparents, and others who care for your child know CPR. The American Red Cross and the Minnesota National Safety Council both offer CPR classes.
Never leave a child unobserved around water—any water, including pools, spas, bath tubs, etc. Adult eyes must be on children at all times when around water. The average child stays on the surface of the water for only 10 seconds and the drowning process can start after they are submerged within 20 seconds.
It takes as little as 2 inches of water and 2 minutes for a child to drown. Toilets and buckets of water can be deadly to toddlers, who are top-heavy and can fall over head first. If you have toddlers in your home, always keep the toilet seat down and never leave a bucket of water unattended.
Always swim with a buddy; never swim alone, even in your own pool.
Wear a lifejacket or PFD whenever possible, the Personal Floatation Device must be US Coastguard approved and fit properly.
Don’t swim if you’re under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.
POOL SAFETY
Make sure the depths of your pool are clearly marked. Teach children and other inexperienced or non-swimmers to stay in the shallow end.
Post CPR instructions in the pool area.
If you have a cordless (not cell) phone, keep it with you at the pool. If there is any pool emergency, call 911 IMMEDIATELY; then attempt rescue efforts.
Always keep basic lifesaving equipment by the pool and know how to use it. Pole, rope, and personal flotation devices are recommended.
Enclose the pool completely with a self-locking, self-closing fence with vertical bars. Openings in the fence should be no more than four inches wide. The house should not be included as a part of the barrier.
Pool covers should always be completely removed prior to pool use.
Consider installing an alarm that will sound if anyone or anything falls in the pool. Remember: A child can drown in less than two minutes.
Never leave furniture near the fence that would enable a child to climb over the fence.
Keep toys away from the pool when it is not in use. Toys can attract young children into the pool.
If a child is missing, check the pool first. Go to the edge of the pool and scan the entire pool, bottom, and surface, as well as the surrounding pool area. Keep your pool water sparkling clean so if someone is on the bottom, they can be seen.
Make sure your pool deck is made of or treated with slip-resistant materials.
In public swimming pools, always swim in areas supervised by a lifeguard and read and obey all rules and posted signs.
LAKE & RIVER SAFETY
Children or inexperienced swimmers should ALWAYS wear a US Coast Guard-approved personal floatation device/life jacket when around the water.
Watch out for the dangerous “too’s” – too tired, too cold, too far from safety, too much sun, too much strenuous activity.
Set water safety rules for the whole family based on swimming abilities (for example, inexperienced swimmers should stay in water less than chest deep).
Be knowledgeable of the water environment you are in and its potential hazards, such as deep and shallow areas, currents, depth charges, obstructions and where the entry and exit points are located. The more informed you are, the less likely you are to be injured or killed.
Use a feet-first entry when entering the water.
Opening your pool this summer the PoolNaturally® way!
If you are a new or returning PoolNaturally® user, here are our suggestions for a more natural pool opening:
Spring Start Up/Opening
Install the PoolNaturally® system at the beginning of the pool season for best results, but better late than never! Returning PoolNaturally users report much easier pool start up the following summer. Excellent opening results are seen even if users installed PoolNaturally as late as August of the last pool season.
Start with a fresh filter
Remove filter media (sand, DE) and replace with fresh media if you are just starting the PoolNaturally system. If you have a cartridge filter, for best results replace it or please ensure the cartridge is well cleaned. Why? If you are new to PoolNaturally, your pool has years of accumulation of biofilm and the filter will contain a large amount of it. The easiest way to get rid of much of it fast is to change out the media or replace the cartridge filter.
If you used PoolNaturally last season, be sure to backwash the sand filter after filling your pool with water. Place cleaned or new cartridge filters back in the system.
Less is more!
When starting/opening your pool, know what you are putting in it! If you used PoolNaturally last summer, don’t start by adding shock, algaecides and cyanuric acid. Expect that your pool will start up with a minimum amount of additives.
-Add chlorine to get desired free chlorine.
-Adjust pH, alkalinity, hardness , and CYA to recommended levels below:
- Free chlorine 1-2 ppm
- pH 7.2-7.6
- Alkalinity 40-120
- Hardness 200-300
- CYA *less than 20 ppm
-Once water has been balanced, add PoolNaturally® PoolRefills to PoolNaturally® contact chamber according to the dosage chart below. It is important that once there is enough water in your pool to start the pumps, get it balanced and add PoolRefills as soon as possible, to begin experiencing the conditioning effects of moss.
How Your Pool Will Change With PoolNaturally
Depending on the age and how much your pool is used, there could be a lot of material (including scale) that is shed from the pipes, pumps, heater, and pool surfaces – this is evidence that the PoolNaturally system is working! Use a pool vacuum to get rid of the larger particles that settle out in the pool and clean or backwash filters to get rid of the smaller particles.
Maintain 1-2 ppm of chlorine – you won’t need anything higher. With PoolNaturally, your pool is no longer precariously on the edge of ‘going bad.’ It will take less chlorine to maintain this 1-2 ppm free available chlorine, so turn down your automatic chlorinator or salt generator to the lowest settings.
Sand Filtration: the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY
Anyone who owns, cares for, or cares about pools, spas or any kind of recreational water, knows that water filtration is an integral part of every water system. Using sand for filtration is commonly used on recreational and residential pools and large spas. Here are some of my observations, thoughts and concerns about sand filtration.
The Good
Sand is cheap, plentiful, and when it is a particle, it works well as a filter medium.
The Bad
Sand filters are usually filled, sealed and the sand is forgotten. The commonly held belief is that back washing the sand periodically, “fluffs it up” and returns the sand to a particle state where it can again work its magic as a particulate filter. Some sand filters have never been opened for 5-10 years to inspect the sand.
Back-washing the sand filter is costly. Water lost during back washing needs to be replaced, heated and treated. Ideally, the pool operators backwash often enough to keep the sand working as a filter, but do not needlessly back wash so water, heat, chemicals and time aren’t wasted.
The Ugly
Inspecting and analyzing the sand from pool sand filters in both residential and commercial pools has been enlightening, to say the least. At the bottom and sides of many filters we found sandstone. Actual sand in the process of forming sandstone. It wasn’t the gravel that is often put down underneath the sand, but sandstone. The sand in those filters was anywhere from 2-10 years old. The sand that wasn’t rock was sticky and foul. When we tested it in our laboratory, we found that it was full of biofilm.
The Hypothesis
We know that in an aqueous environment that contains bacteria, biofilm forms on every surface. To be effective, filters have enormous surface area whether they are made from sand, charcoal, paper, glass or diatomaceous earth. The particles become covered with biofilm over time. Biofilm is very sticky so the particles stick together. As time and pressure continue to pack the biofilm-coated particles together they eventually become rock. So what happens during backwashing? The water will take the path of least resistance. We observed in these filters that there were channels in the sand. We think that the water follows channels through the sand that have become established over time.
We know that backwashing will not remove biofilm. In fact there are very few things that will remove biofilm. Strong acid or base solutions work but they destroy the filter, pumps, valves etc. We have demonstrated that a flush used in spas removes 90% of laboratory created biofilm in one hour, and that many other solutions that claim to remove biofilm don’t.
Getting Better Results
We also have observed that sand in filters where the water is treated with PoolNaturally® Plus (the commercial version of the residential product PoolNaturally®) appears to remain as particles. We think this is why we needed to backwash filters with PoolNaturally Plus much less often than those with conventional water treatment.
By understanding the relationship between biofilm, filters and water we are aiming to create biofilm free aquatic systems that require less chemicals, maintenance, and unwanted side effects.
