|
Mimicking Mother Nature
Morgan Brown is determined to bring a sustainable energy solution to United States swimming pools—without chemicals
by Marion Hixon
 NATURAL SWIMMING POOLS— COMPLETELY VOID OF CHEMICALS— AREN’T A COMMON SIGHT IN NORTH AMERICA, but Morgan Brown wants this to change soon. Brown is president of Whole Water Systems, manufacturers and suppliers of natural swimming pools (NSP), which are an accessible source of sustainable energy. “I actually do want to save the world,” he says.
The phrase seems cliché, but Brown has tangible plans and ideas to back up such a statement. After spending part of his career in high-technology management everywhere from Germany to Seattle for companies like Siemens and Microsoft, he followed a passion for environmentalism and sustainability and founded Whole Water Systems with engineer Patrick Fitzgerald and biologist John Grove, who had pioneered natural water treatment systems using constructed wetlands.
Natural swimming pools evolved in Austria and Germany in the 1970s for individual residences and were approved for the public by health officials in 1990. Since then, the trend has rapidly increased in Germany, due to its economic benefits. In 2007, Whole Water Systems licensed technology From Bio Nova, manufacturers of public and residential natural pools, to bring the product to the United States.
NSPs function as carefully engineered natural ecosystems, which rely on nature’s equilibrium to keep water clear and allow pathogens to be consumed before they can do any harm.
“We create an ideal environment for wetland purification and then stand back and let Mother Nature do her thing,” Brown says. “Since NSPs have no chemical costs, use less energy, and have much lower maintenance requirements, their life-cycle costs are more attractive than conventional pools.”
These economic and environmental benefits are the reason Brown thinks it’s only a matter of time before NSPs come to the United States. But because of their gradual move, it may be difficult to envision what their implementation in the attractions industry will look like. Early adopters include hotels and resorts, Brown says, specifically ecofriendly facilities.
NSPs can be built for indoor and outdoor use, and while they aren’t heated like conventional pools, if the outdoor weather of an attraction isn’t built for winter swimming, the pool can double as an ice rink. Factors of size and style are not limited by the technology, Brown says. “An NSP could be an Olympic regulation swimming pool, a swimming hole in the woods with water plants, or a full-throated waterpark.”
Brown and the staff at Whole Water Systems know the idea of unconventional swimming pools may be met with some resistance, especially when considering public health standards.
“It will take time to convince individual health officials,” he says. “But open-minded professionals are generally very impressed by the European NSP health record,” citing the fact that there has never been a case of cryptosporidiumin an NSP. The company also plans to tout the financial benefits of natural systems, while still stressing the sustainable aspects of its technology.
“The hospitality industry is under tremendous competitive pressure to ‘go green,’” Brown says. In answer to that need, he says Whole Water Systems has a number of product ideas in the pipeline for purifying water using natural methods. “Nature’s a brutal test lab.” www.wholewatersystems.com
Benefits of Natural Swimming Pools
- Installation is typically less than conventional chemical pools
- Maintenance is greatly reduced
- Heating costs are often nonexistent because wetland filtration zone warms the swimming area
- No chemical costs
|
