One of the many benefits of living in Southern Arizona, is that we can enjoy our backyard pools year-round. However, that enjoyment comes with responsibility. As drought conditions continue, we must search for innovative ways to conserve our water resources.
Q: How do I know when it is time to drain and refill my pool?
A: The best way to know is if you see white scaling caused by minerals on the tile. Sometimes scaling isn’t always visible to the naked eye. “Your best chance of seeing scaling is if you turn on the pool lights at night,” said Aaron Baker, co-owner of Rosie-Certified Omni Pool Builders & Design. “Typically, at night you can see them floating around your pool. We recommend you change out your pool water every two to three years to keep the water sanitary and clear.”
Q: I heard pool water can be recycled? Why would I want to do that?
A: Yes, you can recycle pool water. There are a number of benefits to recycling pool water, most importantly, being a good steward of our water resources.
Omni’s service division, Ambiance Pool Service/Tucson Pool Water Recycling, has an innovative alternative to sending a pool’s worth of water down the drain that is better for the environment.
Their Puripool Process allows you to process swimming pool water through a purification trailer, resulting in conserving water, using fewer chemicals and allowing you to enjoy a swimming pool that is cleaner, safer and healthier.
- There is no damage to the surface of your pool. Exposing the plaster during a drain and refill can cause plaster damage or the pool structure to shift which is an expensive repair.
- With a cleaner, purer pool water, you won’t spend a lot of time and money on chemicals, trying to balance old, tired and unsanitary water.
- Recycling pool water allows you to retain up to 70% of your existing pool water. (Most city sewer water is recycled so even that 30% gets recycled since it is not sent down the street.)
Q: How does pool water recycling work?
A: In less than a day, the technician will hook up a Reverse Osmosis Mobile Filtration Trailer to your swimming pool. The process lowers or removes the calcium, total dissolved solids (or TDS), excess Stabilizer, phosphates, nitrates, and waterborne diseases.
The process is 100% self-contained. You do not need to provide for electricity, extension cords or an outlet. All they need from you is a fresh water supply to replenish the small amount of water, (approximately 30%) that is lost during the process.
The technician will test the pool water for calcium hardness, TDS, pH, chlorine, alkalinity, phosphates, cyanuric acid and salinity. The results (before and after) are logged on a chemical analysis sheet, which you will receive after the process is complete.
An inch-and-a-half hose with a Virginia Graeme Baker Act-compliant fitting will be placed in one end of the pool to draw the water back to the trailer for treatment. Another inch-and-a-half hose returns the clean (drinkable) water back to your pool.
The water is processed through the proprietary multistage filtration system, removing all of the impurities and TDS. The process takes approximately 10 to 14 hours depending on the size of your pool. You can still swim during the process, too.
A computer in the unit is linked to the technician’s cell phone, notifying them of any interruptions, when the set points are met, and the process is complete. Once the set points are met and all of the water has been restored to bottled water purity, the process is complete. The system will shut down automatically. The technician will return to retest the pool water and pick up the filtration trailer.
You will get back a clean, healthy pool; as pure as if you had filled it with bottled drinking water.
