From ecstatic children splashing water for hours on end to tired parents sunbathing until the whistle blows, the pool is the place to be in the summertime.<\/p>\n
This summer, northern Minneapolis will open one of the city\u2019s largest public pools \u2014 but it\u2019s not your average pool. The water won\u2019t be crystal blue, and you won\u2019t come out red-eyed and reeking of chlorine. The pool will be 100 percent natural \u2014 the first of its kind in the United States.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n With enough space to accommodate 500 people, Webber Park Pool is expected to reel in people from all over the Midwest. Minneapolis Parks Board Commissioner Jon Olson was responsible for shepherding the natural pool, a project that has been in the works for 10 years. \u201cThey were doing this over in Europe for about a quarter century, had great success with it, and haven\u2019t had any issues,\u201d Olson says. \u201cIt just made a lot of sense to try it here.\u201d<\/p>\n Natural pools have been around since Werner Gamerith, an Austrian environmental activist, built the first one in Europe in 1983. A nature lover, Gamerith constructed the pool as a part of his private garden. That pool is still fully functional and has served as a model for over 20,000 successful natural pools worldwide.<\/p>\n Mother Nature, the ultimate swimming pool designer, has inspired both the look and feel of these natural pools. They are self-cleaning mini ecosystems that cause no damage to the environment and are far more visually appealing than a typical pool. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say that the swimming area looks like a pond at all,\u201d says Alan Weene, the head of marketing at BioNova<\/a>, the contracting company that consulted on the project. \u201cIt is a pretty unusual design, so it’s not going to look like your typical blue rectangle,\u201d Weene says.<\/p>\n The construction of Webber Park has cost close to $7 million. Webber Park Pool will also be free for all those who want to take a dip. \u201cIt\u2019s the only pool in Minneapolis that is going to be free,\u201d Olson says. Because the pool looks and behaves so much like a natural body of water, Olson feels it\u2019s unnecessary to enforce an admissions fee.<\/p>\n But because natural pools behave so differently from your average public pool, Olson and the pool\u2019s planners had to jump through some hoops.<\/p>\n Although several countries have accepted these pools into their neighborhoods and backyards, state laws in the U.S. have blocked their construction here. Those laws require public pools to use chemicals like ozone and chlorine to ensure that the water is sanitary enough for people to swim in. But over the years, some individuals have become wary of these sanitation methods and the potential adverse side effects from pool chemicals.<\/p>\n\n