Natural Swim Ponds

I think that this is a “green†topic and I haven’t seen any threads on it. I’m working with a contractor who has lived overseas and is familiar with natural swim ponds which filter water without chemicals to create an area to swim. I’ve been doing a-lot of research and there are several websites of people who have done these in Europe and Australia. I even found one in New Jersey. There are some good videos on U-tube too. http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden_products/water/natural_swimming_pond

Basically, I’m going to do it, so I’m not looking for talking in or out of it. I just wanted to see if anyone on here has done anything like this, or know of someone who has, and some thoughts on it.

I have some property that has a small slow moving creek on it. I am planning on pumping water into a retention pond (bog) and then letting it naturally drain/filter into the swim pond through a thin dam. From the swim pond I will have a surface pipe mounted vertically to catch/skim the surface junk from the swim pond back onto the creek. Because the water is there already we are not going to line it, but I will build a retention wall at least on one side of it with pavers. We’re probably going to start a week from today and I will post pics if anyone is interested.

This was also a concern of mine. We have Gambusia (Mosquito Fish) naturally already there and they keep the skeeters in check. My wife works for the county’s environmental department and if the fish don’t handle it the county sprays too. We haven’t really had it too bad considering the amount of water around us though.

I've already been looking into some options for this. I have a pretty good pump now that is designed for producing a nice waterfall. Depending on how the dam construction goes I may have a small one between my bog and the swim pond. I have also looked at various aeration methods (electrical, solar, and wind).

One company that has caught my attention is Koenders Windmills. They have small windmills that would probably be suitable for this project.

I sketched a rough drawing that I will let you see. I'm a Firefighter/Paramedic not an artist.

The Gambusia (Mosquito Fish) is pretty neat. I bet I have thousands of them just in my little section of the creek. The water out there has little oxygenation, but they seem to do ok. I heard from one of the county environmental types here that after hurricanes the government disperses them in standing water to keep mosquitoes in check. I had some in an aquarium for a few years and finally I freed them back to the creek. They seem to be really resilient.

Well, I’ve been e-mailing my contractor all day and he actually has another customer that wants him to fill in and get rid of their in ground pool. I think that I have either lucked out or gotten over my head fast. Monday starts the transformation. His message to me tonight was:


Thinking about that pool I'm filling in, I have a 6' in ground pool set of steps that are going to be trashed, and I think they will be easy to bury in as an access to the pond. I already pre-plumbed it w/ 4 spa jets w/ aerators, only needs a pump to get it going. I'll give them to you if you think you can use them. They should clean up to look new; they have an acrylic textured finish.

Actually, you've hit the swim pond jackpot. I also have a skimmer and a sand filter. If you're ambitious enough to chip them out of their concrete footer I also have 36 ft of pool wall that would make a great retaining wall for the bog already re-drilled for the skimmer. (easier to just get 8x16 blocks ) I also have a pool light and niche, you can light it up. And a set of deep end steps you can mount into a "pier" and a rail for that 6' step. All for free if you want them.

The idea would be to use the step spa jets as the system return and use the skimmer for suction. Get a 3/4 hp 100 pool pump, hook up the filter, and the water is aerated and filtered at the same time. Since you have the bog, you wouldn't need chemicals, and the water never has debris floating on it because of the skimmer, and the water is always crystal clear. I attached a generic drawing showing the system components that can be installed in any way.