This beach entry is flanked by water plants and embedded boulders. It’s a good example of the creativity that an NSP allows.
If the wetland is properly constructed, the pool’s ability to keep itself clean will improve with age, once the plants have had a chance to mature.
How Much Will It Cost?
Costs vary widely. Robyn says that the square foot cost of an NSP is the same as for a conventional pool, but that includes the regeneration zone, so total costs can be 50% to 100% more. The final price tag will depend on lots of variables, such as the surface material (Gunite or EPDM) and where the pool is located. As a rule, you need a bigger regeneration zone in warmer climates. “In cold climates the [bacterial] load is smaller so you need less media,” says Hilleary. “If we’re building a 30,000-gallon pool in Canada in the shade, we design the regeneration zone for 30,000 gallons; for the same pool in Florida in full sun we will design it as if were 60,000 gallons.”
Robyn finds that people often opt for a smaller swim area to keep costs down. “Take someone who was considering an 800-square-foot swimming pool for $80,000. In order to get a natural pool they are often willing to scale that down to 550 square feet of swim area, with 400 square feet of filtration for a total cost of $90,000.”
DIY or Not?
One challenge to getting a natural pool is that few U.S. companies specialize in building them, so many homeowners or general contractors may consider doing it themselves. There’s a lot of information available in print and online, and many homeowners and landscape companies have built pools in Europe, but experts disagree on whether the DIY approach is a good idea.
Peter Petrich, whose Austrian-based company Biotop built the first pools in Europe, says that DIY pools often don’t work as well as they should because they don’t have the optimal regeneration zone with the optimal plants for the particular building site.
“It is much more difficult to build a natural pool than many assume,” he notes. “Just excavating a hole, putting in a liner, planting a few water plants, filling it with water and adding some decking is not enough. The secret lies in the knowledge of the complex relationships in natural water.”
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