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Okay, out of the pool!  We’re not having it anymore with chemicals. We want natural, clean, safe swimming pools that won’t leave our skin burning, our nostrils crackling, and our eyes weeping. And the good news is that we don’t have to put up with chlorine anymore. Even though we Yanks are slow on the uptake, we could learn from our British forebears who now are creating natural pools that are self-cleaning because they’re built in harmony with nature.

According to Science Daily, a Norwegian study with 30,000 participants found a direct link to respiratory inflammation and permanent allergies among babies who swam in chlorinated pools before turning before six months of age.  That’s brutality.

Green is Grand

If we want to swim in healthy conditions, we may have to give up old ideas about the color or water.  It’s either reason, or wheezin’.

When Did Fresh Go Out of Style?

In natural pools, good bugs gobble up the bad. Morgan Brown of Whole Water Systems reports on a natural public pool that  opened 15 years ago in Germany and hasn’t had a single health report from consumers. Compare that record with one from an ozone or chlorine controlled pool down at your local park.

Reed It and Weep

Weep with joy, that is. gartenART Natural Swimming Ponds has been building clear-water swimming holes for six years across Europe. Some of them become instant wildlife sanctuaries and the water remains safe for swimming!

Warming Up to It

Will Woodhouse of UK-based Woodhouse Natural Pools claims that natural ponds heat up quickly by the sun and are “soft water” pools that won’t damage—but in fact enhance—your skin and hair. Imagine that!

Going Native

Get the skinny on dipping from Somerset resident and landscape architect Michael Littlewood who has penned Natural Swimming Pools, Inspiration for Harmony with Nature, a guide for those who have had enough with the pool service and its chlorine-toting thug with a skimmer.