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Building Natural Swimming Pools
Building natural swimming pools takes planning and preparation. If you know anyone who has a natural swimming pool or pond, ask them who did the pond you admire. Many universities, arboretums and parks have man made ponds. Looking on line at gardening and hardware sites will give many ideas for natural swimming pools. Keep in mind:
How Big Your Pond Will Be: Water attracts all kinds of birds. Natural swimming pools only need to be four or five feet deep to be an oasis for your feathered neighbors. Generally, the bigger the pond, the more time and money you will need to invest in it.
Where To Place Your Pond: Any water feature on your property, you need to keep the water as clean as possible so mosquitoes dont breed in your natural swimming pools. You need to keep your pond away from trees, bushes that drop a lot of leaves and flowers, and from any chemical or trash dumps. You also need a level part of the land to work with.
You Need A Pump Or Filter: No rare bird will help your community relations if your pools water becomes stagnant, weed-choked and infested with mosquitoes. If you dont have any means of keeping the water flowing naturally (connecting it to a stream, for example), installing a pump or water filter in your pond is mandatory to keep the water healthy and clean.
Access To A Water Source: Youll have to routinely fill the pond or pool, so be sure there is a hose line or water source within a reasonable distance of the proposed pond site. Carrying just one bucket of water is heavy!
Just Add Water
Try not to fill the pool all the way up with water. Leave at least a two inch gap. If you are going to run in and out of the pond for games or swimming, make sure there is a sturdy ramp or at least a stone pathway leading to the water. The edges of natural swimming pools will be very muddy. You might want to plant some water plants of grasses at the edge so the pond bank doesnt start crumbling away.
Keep track of the water condition before you let anyone go swimming. It should a balanced level of pH and chlorine. It shouldnt have a build up of algae. There are many kinds of drops and tablets to keep your waters chemistry balanced or to kill algae. |