For the longest time the only solution to dealing with hard water issues in a swimming pool was to drain your pool and refill it. As a swimming pool owner especially in the Southwest and Southern United States dealing with hard calcium filled tap water is a major issue in your pool. As swimming pool water evaporates the hardness minerals stay in solution thus scaling the liner, tile, pumps and motors. Not to mention calcium acts as a sponge and sucks up chlorine at a rapid rate. This is not only a major eye sore to see on decorative tile but also on water features. During the summer months when the water is warm it can be challenging to keep up with the chlorine demand thus it’s possible your water will become cloudy or green.

Anyone in the swimming pool industry would tell you to drain your pool and start over approximately every 2-3 years. That was fine back then but it doesn’t solve the problem completely. The fill water coming out of the tap in some areas of the United States is already higher than the recommended amount of calcium in a swimming pool (200-400ppm). Although having some calcium is important to have in the water because it holds the liner together…too much can cause so many other issues including decreased life span of the pool, pumps and filters.

Living in the San Diego area where water conservation is in the news all the time, we figured there had to be a better solution. Why waste hundreds of thousands of gallons of water when it can be recycled instead. About four years ago we designed a mobile filtration trailer with a large industrial reverse osmosis (RO) system inside. The RO system runs off a generator and high pressure making water loss extremely minimal. Typically when we recycle a swimming pool it’s possible for us to conserve 85% of the water.

How it works:

• 2 hoses are dragged out to the swimming pool
• The intake hose has a small pump attached to it and brings the swimming pool water into the trailer
• The water passes through RO membranes that remove calcium, phosphates, CYA and other hardness minerals.
• The return hose takes the filtered pool water back to the swimming pool and the water is pure enough to drink.
• The unit can process 40,000 gallons of water a day.
• Here’s a short YouTube video on how the process works.

By conserving 85% of the water in the swimming pool this is a perfect alternative to draining a swimming pool.

Benefits of recycling vs. draining a swimming pool

• Less time
• Better end product
• Increases the lifespan of the swimming pool, pumps, and filters
• The feel of swimming in soft water
• Water conservation
• Saves money on chemicals
• Better for your hair, skin, nails, and clothing
• Decreases complaints of itchy skin and red burning eyes
• No downtime because you can swim during filtration
• No potential for exposing or cracking the surface of the pool

This service is very similar in cost to a drain and refill but is a little bit more expensive. The bottom line is giving our customers a superior product and doing our part to help with water conservation. Just this past weekend we recycled a 100,000-gallon swimming pool in a busy commercial space. It was ideal because they didn’t need to shut down the pool and their residents could swim during filtration. Currently, we are recycling swimming pool water in San Diego but have our sites on expansion throughout the United States where calcium filled swimming pool water is an issue.