Make a Splash: Natural Swimming Pools

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It’s that harmony—a seamless blending of environments—that natural pool owners cite as a major benefit. “It has enriched our lives,” Schneeweiss says. “While you’re separated from the plants, you still feel surrounded by them when you swim, which creates a very special kind of mood.” Her fifty-square-meter pool is home to irises in June, water lilies throughout the summer, and a rather loud frog chorus from the end of May until July. Besides creating a habitat for plants and animals, Schneeweiss’s pool is functional year-round: In winter the frozen crust is perfect for ice-skating.

In the United States, the primary challenge to installing natural pools reflects the delicate and distinctive ecology of each pool. “The range of climates is so large that the plant mixes would need to change,” Littlewood says. However, “Biotop hasn’t done research for the plants in each state,” he adds. Nor does the company have contractors in the United States, which means designers would have to develop their own models or pay a fee to become a Biotop franchise.

Biology aside, the concept has been slow to catch on in England, and it’s likely to be the same in the United States. Carol Anderson, a senior architect with Sausalito, California–based Fields and Associates, says her clients don’t often ask about natural pools but that “this kind of experimentation will lead to a safer swimming environment in the long run.”

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