Freshwater Pool Systems

Golden Bay High School, 12 Waitapu Road, Takaka 7172, New Zealand

Richard Barham
Caretaker/Property manager
Golden Bay High School
12 Waitapu Road
Takaka
7172

Tel 03 525 9914
0277134834
13th June 2007

To whom it may concern

In November of 2006 Golden Bay High School installed a new ECOSMARTE water treatment system to control the water quality in our 600,000 litre heated outdoor pool. The pool is used by 350 students and by the public outside school hours. As a result, the Golden Bay High School Pool is open from dawn to dusk for approximately 6 months of the year.

Previously our water quality was controlled by the addition of chlorine granules.

Advantages of the ECOSMARTE system

 

• Water Quality
  • Water quality is more consistent
  • Water is very clear and sparkling
  • No algae forming at the corner and edges of the pool
  • Easier to overwinter as copper remains active in the pool preventing algae growth
• Less chlorine
  • Cost reduced as only 100 kg of chlorine product is used per annum, compared to 600 kg previously
  • Smell of chlorine reduced to zero
  • Handling - less chlorine to mix and store
  • Safety (see previous point) - No stinging eyes or other possible health issues associated with chlorine
  • Chlorine pump runs at a lower rate and consequently will last longer
  • Feed tubes and injectors less likely to become blocked with chlorine product
• Adjustments
  • Copper and oxygen adjustments are easy to make
  • Chlorine input can be automated and stabilized
  • No cyanuric acid required and therefore no testing
  • All but one of our monthly lab reports on water quality have been excellent. The one exception occurred when we experimented with using no chlorine at all. Although the amount of chlorine is very small at 0.5 ppm, it is required in addition to the copper and oxygen. No chlorine resulted in a failed test and cloudy water.

Disadvantages of the ECOsmarte system

• Some chlorine still has to be used
• pH needs to be maintained at 7.2 or lower which has caused some problems. We need to use extra pH decreasers, such as HCL. The hazards of injecting HCL could be moderated if our old chlorine pump is used to inject deleted HCL from an additional tank into the filtration system. However, this will depend on the water supply maybe more acidic. Other pH decreasers could also be used.
• We require CO2 gas to be injected into the system to help balance pH. Although the cylinder lasted 5 months this is an additional cost and inconvenience.
• Due possibly to the high phosphate levels in the water supply we have experienced a little difficulty regulating the amount of copper in the pool water. We have noticed that some of our fair haired swimmers have green tinged hair after swimming. We are hoping to correct this problem by using an electronic tester which will more accurately inform us of the imbalance we need to correct. Apparently the green haired problem is not harmful and can be removed by using a good hair conditioner.
• There is no reduction in the overall number of tests we have to carry out. We still need to test every three hours to comply with regulations. However this could be simplified and speeded up if a quality electronic testing machine is purchased.
• The initial cost of installing ECOSMARTE and auxiliary equipment. This will be alleviated in time by using less chlorine and improving water quality

Conclusion

We are pleased with the service ECOSMARTE has provided. All our swimmers have noticed the improvement in the quality of our pool water and we are pleased that we have switched to a healthier system. If you can afford the initial startup cost I would strongly recommend any school or pool operator to switch to this more progressive method of providing a safe pool water environment.

Yours faithfully

Richard Barham

(Swimming Pool Manager)