A dive in the backyard swimming pool is welcome respite from summer scorchers. What’s even more relaxing is a dip in a pool surrounded by a garden of wild flowers, a waterfall or other natural accoutrements. Don’t have room for a full-on dive pool? How about taking a dip in a four-feet deep natural plunge pool to dodge the dog days of summer?
Popular in Europe and fairly new to the United States, natural swimming pools are retreats balanced in harmony with the beauty of the great outdoors without the use of chlorine or other chemicals. Competent designers marry their environmentally conscious vision with function, constructing traditional poolside features, such as patios, retaining walls, decks, bathhouses, saunas, fire pits, gazebos, waterfalls and fountains without compromising the integrity of the surrounding landscape.
One such designer, Chris Rawlings, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, has always been drawn to projects involving water and large stones. His adoration for nature and the years he spent watching his own father excavate terrain led him to plunge into the natural swimming pool business. Rawlings, who founded Rawlings Excavation Services LLC in 1999, is the owner of Water House Pools in Ashfield, Massachusetts, a small town nestled in the Pioneer Valley.
Water House Pools focuses on maintaining the vital connection between form and function, offering clients a variety of customizable
options, from more conventional-looking pools where plant-filter areas are separate from the swimming areas to ones with a more wild landscape that mimics what is naturally found in the world.
“To create the most balanced, efficient and aesthetically pleasing water feature, our focus is to work with and incorporate natural, self- contained systems and renewable resources to the greatest extent allowed by given design constraints,” Rawlings says. Rawlings, who is currently working on projects in his hometown of Ashfield and Northampton, Massachusetts, is demonstrating how eco-friendly his designs can be. With one project, he’s installing a clay liner made of materials extrapolated from a local brick quarry as opposed to a rubber, petroleum-based membrane. Another project is focused on mining water following rain events so that Rawlings’ client, a farmer, can naturally irrigate his crops.
Natural swimming pools, which can be comparable in price to traditional gunite in-ground pools depending on design, also require less water-based maintenance than their conventional counterparts. The biomechanical filter works much like one found in a fish tank, Rawlings explains, sifting out algae without the use of chemical treatments, such as chlorine. In reality, Rawlings adds, the plants and microorganisms present in the pool are purifying the water as they pass through the filter.
Natural pools are also solar-heat collectors. Due to the increased surface area of the plant
regeneration zones, each pool’s circulation system pulls warm water from shallow plant- based areas and re-distributes it into the deeper swimming waters where it rises— helping homeowners save money on heating equipment. (The circulation system is key, too, for preventing mosquitoes from breeding.)
While summer rays are now beaming down on the New England ground, come winter a natural swimming pool, depending on its size, can convert into an at-home ice-skating rink. The pools are designed to freeze solid, so there’s no need to drain any of the water. Also, you won’t need an unsightly pool cover, which can muck up the wintertime scenery of any backyard living space.
If you’ve already got a conventional in-ground pool, consider giving it a natural facelift by hiring a landscape architect to raise the surface grade around the pool to accommodate lush plantings closer to the water’s edge. Some clients opt for exotic poolside plantings like lilies and lotuses, says Rawlings, while others choose vegetation and flflowers that are more indigenous to New England.
By Laura Starczewski
Imagery courtesy of Chattman Photography for Water House Pools
What’s the difference between a fresh pond and a “naturally” created one?
Ponds are typically tied to ground water or watershed, which gives the water body the necessary amount of fresh water to achieve a healthy balance. Natural pools run on closed systems, meaning they use circulation pumps, debris filters and a supplied water source to achieve aquatic harmony.
While natural pools require less maintenance, Rawlings recommends vacuuming the pool and gardening the lush vegetation around the pool occasionally to maintain a balanced look.
