2023-07-10 17:06:48
A swimming pool in the garden is quickly wasteful and polluting. But, if you are a little creative, you can immerse yourself in it quite sustainably. And ever heard of the ‘dark green’ options: plunge pool or swimming pond?
Frank Straver10 July 2023, 19:06
Flabby, simple inflatable pools are falling out of favour. Dutch people who want to bathe and splash in their own garden are increasingly opting for a stronger specimen.
The demand follows the supply: you can buy fairly serious set-up baths in countless shops, from drugstores to toy stores. Not a bath that you fill with pursed lips or a foot pump, but a set-up bath that is solidly put together with sticks and strong cloth. In warm periods they also conquer small (city) gardens.
This has an advantage for the environment. Strong baths last longer. They are less likely to leak due to a sharp stone or rose thorn. You can certainly use it for about five years, manufacturers promise. Compare that to a classic inflatable pool and count your profit. Longer use of the bath saves material, raw materials and waste disposal. The throwaway culture is diminishing somewhat.
Thousands of litres
Unfortunately, there is also an environmental disadvantage that the Dutch (a quarter of the country has a bath) more often choose a solid model for the garden. The baths are much bigger. You can’t get them filled with some watering cans.
The larger specimens need thousands of liters of water from the garden hose if you want to be able to bathe in it a bit. Quite different from the few hundred liters in a small bath. And that while water companies such as Vitens are already warning: be careful with tap water, because shortages are imminent.
If someone considers not to pour cold but lukewarm water into the bath, it also costs energy to heat the boiler for this. The user of an XL bath does not just empty it at the end of the day, so strong baths come with a manual.
Rinse feet
The crux is: keeping it clean. This is possible with chlorine products, but that is bad for the environment. It is therefore a pity that water from the bath, after the bathing pleasure, cannot simply be given to the plants. It has to go down the drain, towards the sewer. And that is not environmentally friendly either.
It is therefore better to try not to use the chlorine tablets or hardly at all. In principle, that is also possible, but you have to do something for it. Cover the bath neatly after use, so that no dirt is blown in. Clean the bath with a fine scoop net. First rinse your feet in a bucket next to the bath.
According to health authorities such as the RIVM, a little green deposit in the water should not keep a bath user awake. That is not dangerous, so do not reach for cleaning products too quickly for that reason. The diligent bath owner can thus avoid chemicals.
Plungepool
That leaves another sore point for the environment and climate. For the purification of a larger bath, a pump is required to filter the water during prolonged use. Such a pump must be switched on every day, bath experts advise a few hours.
That adds up to a lot of electricity, often generated from fossil sources. Those who want to limit the environmental damage of this must look for a modern, efficient pump that preferably runs on green (solar) electricity.
Anyone who finds sustainable pool management too much of a hassle, or still not environmentally friendly enough, can look at alternatives. A pool in the garden can be sustainable if the user accepts that he or she cannot swim around in it for a long time.
The so-called plunge pool was invented for this, also known as a mini swimming pool. This is often a kind of large bath tub, which at first sight is reminiscent of a bubble bath.
Such a small bath, sometimes rectangular, does not need a filter pump, according to suppliers, and it saves a lot of water consumption. Such a modest swimming pool is therefore known as relatively sustainable – regardless of the still considerable water requirement.
Swimming pond
Garden owners who think too much of an energy-guzzling jacuzzi can also look for their swimming pleasure in a completely different corner. An alternative to an inflatable or above-ground pool is a swimming pond. This is a naturally designed pond, possibly with fish, which also serves as a bath.
Adding chlorine or installing a pump is not allowed in such a swimming pond. That goes against the whole idea of natural bathing. But how does the water stay that little bit healthy and clean? Various types of (organic) water plants can be used for this, such as lilies or cattails. They purify the water in a natural way and keep the pond oxygen-rich.
Of course you have to be able to use all that in the garden, those above-ground pools, plunge pools or swimming ponds. And being able to afford it. Serious baths cost hundreds to thousands of euros.
Those who do not have that luxury and still want to take a sustainable dip can of course always look in their own area for a nice ditch or lake, with good and healthy water quality, to freshen up on a hot day. Or in the local swimming pool of course.
A resident in his swimming pond. Image Verheijden, Koen
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