[sdinenno]

What do y'all think about this? Can you see a market for it?

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Natur...ing-Pools.aspx

[agla]

No, I don't see a market for this. First, most people don' t like the idea of sharing the pool with plants and bugs, but more importantly a pool deep enough to swim in would be huge. A six foot deep pool 10'x20' would need to be 46'x56' if it had a 3:1 slope. I'm sure that it is no big deal out in the country, but not in the urbs and 'burbs.

I think this is the sort of thing for DIY'ers and not for contractors. Too little demand,too little money, too big a liability.

[groundwork]

I think there are a few people out there that would be all for it.. we actually have a few customers that would probably jump on it due to the back to nature factor.

[jamesn162]

Huge Liability................not to mention you guys down south will have gator in them lol. I mean really who knows you cant see the bottom in those things so who knows thats down there.

[Nebraska]

It's ironic that you posted this because my Wife and I were talking about our newly developed dislike for pools after a recent stay at a hotel. This new disdain has developed recently since my family and I purchased a large boat within the last year and have been doing a lot of boating, skiing, tubing, swimming, and fishing during the spring, summer, and fall. The recent pool seemed boring and the chlorine was almost unbearable.

Of course in our area we have no gators....although the muskie, walleye, pike, and snapping turtles we've seen will freak you out.

Nothing's better than a swim in a lake with the family on a hot day.

I would have to agree with others that the market would be limited because of the factors of space, bugs, plants, mud, and dirt. Most are going to prefer that sterile environment that they feel and believe a pool affords. (Nothing like swimming in public pools that really amount to nothing more than a chlorinated septic tank. I won't even touch upon how toxic chlorine can be from dermal exposure and especially when injested.)

[sdinenno]

I tend to agree that many people don't want to be so intimate with nature that they have to swim with bugs and plants. Also, the article states that half of the surface area of the pool needs to be covered with plants so that limits its use.

But still there are some people who like to have something unique and maybe a swimmable pond is for them.

We don't have gators in northern Georgia but we do have the venomous cottonmouth snake (water moccasin). I was with a customer yesterday who has a large unfinished water feature in her backyard and I suggested enlarging and converting the empty pond into a natural pool. But she said they once exterminated a nest of cottonmouths at the back of her soggy property, so that was the end of that idea.

[agla]

I think some people would like these, but I don't think it is enough to try and market them or to try and perfect the technique.

[johnkeegan]

I agree with Nebraska... basically pools are boring. Of course, I spent all my youth travelling from one swimming hole to another every day. Pools always seemed like a big bathtub to me. Fish, turtles, bugs, plants etc. seem natural. Chlorine, pvc etc. seem unnatural.
Now, I agree that most suburbanites find alot of things natural to be "icky", so the swimming ponds would be a definate niche market. But we all know that there's alot of money in those niches.

[FungusMudGrub]

I have been dying to try one of these - unfortunately my own property isn't big enough, but there are plenty of properties in this rural state who would love a pond/ wetland that is kept clean enough to swim in. From my reading, there seems to be a big range of aesthetic choices, from basically a regular swimming pool that is kept clean through a wetland filter, with added UV sterilization, all the way to something that is indistinguishable from a natural pond.

Personally, I hate swimming in chlorinated water, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[johnkeegan]

It's funny to see that you're from Maine. I've found that some of the best swimming holes are in the New England area or the Adirondacks. And at many of the holes there's always a fun crowd enjoying themselves. Jumping off rocks, swinging off rope swings into a quarry or below a falls, etc. After doing all that, swimming in a lifeless, chlorinated, plastic-lined rectangled hole in the ground does seem a little lame.

[autophil]

I would love to build a "large pond in which a person may elect to swim, if he/she so desired", but I would never think about building a "natural swimming pool".

Similarly, I'd place some "large landscape boulders" near the pool's edge, but I would never install a "Dive Rock".

[Nathaniel Carr]

Funny thing...
We might all think this is fringe, but with marketing like this http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/garden/05pools.html maybe we will be getting calls for it before too long.

[livingwaters]

Natural Swimming ponds are are surely not for everyone, but for those "green types" and those who arn't into swimming in a chemical bath, they are awesome. I have built a small one myself, nothing to grand but, I am looking at a lage project for this summer. The best thing I have found about the natural swiiming pond design is the water quality. It takes about a year or two to get the system to balance but after that the water is just as good as your tap water, no joke.
There are few people in the states building them (only two that I know of) so it might be a neat thig to get into.

[markwydareny]

This is something that I have been pondering as well. It make perfect sense. Granted, it would be a hard sell to many Americans, especially in my market (southwest PA), but it could become a niche. My wife & I plan on doing one in our yard when money & time allow (yeah, sure). The Aquascape systems would be ideally suited. I have asked Helfrich & some other Chicago boys why Whittstock isn't marketing them; they had no answer. If anyone could create demand for them, it's "The Pond Guy". I have Littlewood's book - it's very compelling & great photos. It could be a great sales tool.

I met a guy from Germany (Jorg) that owns a green roof consulting business in MD. He said that all pools in Germany are like this, and that he has had some clients show an intrest, but he declined the design because he did not know of any contractors to do the install. Hmmm . . . I need to contact him.

[agla]

Where I am it would be considered a wetland and then you could not do anything within 50' of it. I'm half kidding, but only half kidding.