It's something I've been pondering a lot recently...should I take my daughter swimming? She loves it, and I think it's a very important skill to have, not just for personal safety but for general fitness. But the fact you are swimming in (& often swallowing) chemicals really bothers me. Ecosmarte are tackling this issue head on by producing a pump which cleans and filters pool water without the use of any chemicals. They use an oxygen and ionisation system which requires a fairly modest sized pump which delivers a non-chemical shock to your water when it passes through the pressure line. On a weekly basis you check your PH and copper levels and use the electronic control unit to ionize the pool for 4-8 hours. This will put harmless levels of copper into the water which eliminates algae and kills any harmful viruses. The EPA state that the water in a pool run on this system is drink safe, and the company claim if you were to swallow two gallons of the pool water you would ingest the same amount of copper as you would if you took a multi vitamin.
I would hope that commercial swimming pools consider switching to this type of filtration system so we can continue swimming and not have to be exposed to so many harmful chemicals.
[via The Alternative Consumer]
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