Reviewed April 2007

Pool Tips^™
Pool Water Conservation

You must read all of the Liability Agreement before taking any action, especially all safety and liability warnings.

Swimming pools actually use very little water once they are filled: far less than a same-sized lawn. Grass provides far more surface area with very little depth, causing far more evaporation. However, there is still plenty that can be done to conserve.

Most important, keep your solar cover on as much as possible. That cuts evaporation up to 90%. The liquid solar covers are not quite as efficient, cutting evaporation only about 50%, but they work better than a solar cover sitting in your garage because it’s too much work to drag on and off.

If you have a sand filter, backwash it only when it really needs it. Borrow a filter that doesn’t backwash from a neighbor. Most DE filters drain about 15 gallons a month compared to 400 – 1000 gallons a month backwashing a typical sand filter.

Take care of your pool. If you do not let algae start due to your own inattention (by far the main cause of pool problems), you won’t have to waste water vacuuming to waste.

Save the water on top of your winter pool cover and take the cover off correctly. See our “Pool Tips^™ on Slow and Easy Pool Opening for details. Next year, spring for a $20 set of above-ground winter plates so you don’t have to throw away half the water in the pool.

Have fun in your pool, but have the kids do more underwater games (slalom, dinosaur eggs, pearl diver, dive rings, etc.) and less splash-out games (like cannonball from the side, climb out all wet, run across the deck dripping water, and cannonball again). Splashing is mostly OK in the middle of the pool, although technically, aerating water does make it evaporate faster. However, why make it worse by splashing water right out on the ground?

Watch out for leaks. If you suspect that you have a leak, put a bucket of pool water on a pool step or a ladder step, in the water. If you are using a solar cover, put a piece of the cover on the bucket, or remove the cover from the pool. You need the exact same conditions to exist in the pool as in the bucket. Make the water level the exact same height in the bucket as in the pool. If you did it right, the pool and bucket will evaporate at the same rate. If the pool drops lower, you have a leak in the pool. If the bucket drops lower, re-read the directions and try again.

Watch for unseen filter leaks. If you backwash into a pipe, and you cannot easily see the end of the pipe, check it after the filter has been running normally for a few hours. You could have a leak in your valve, and have water leaking out the backwash while you are running on filter.

If you have a well (and most likely no fire hydrant), having a pool is a good thing. Keep maintaining your pool, and you have a back-up water supply for firefighting, toilet flushing, and everything except drinking and cooking if your well goes dry.

If you have town water, there will always be water if we conserve – New Hampshire is still relatively rich in water compared to most of the United States. However, what do you do with a pool during a hot summer, when the water level is too low to circulate, filter, or run a chlorinator? You let it become stagnant, smelly, and dangerous to anyone who is tempted to swim anyway, not to mention a breeding ground for mosquitoes. That’s a health issue. If your water department chooses to ban the filling of existing pools, we could see some major diseases spread as a result.

New Pools or Liners

If you are putting in a new pool or liner, our advice is to start early. If possible, install before any water bans start. If you need to order water, do it as far in advance as possible. If your installer has a favorite water company, consider listening to his advice. They know that if you can’t get water, they don’t work. If your town water company allows you to “top off” your pool, you may wish to buy a 9,000 gallon tank or two 6,500 gallon tanks and then finish from your tap. People with wells do that all the time.

It is possible that the bulk water delivery companies may have to pull water from a pond, lake or river if the municipal water companies stop selling them water. Chemical issues from this water are not serious. It’s really no different from opening a dirty pool in springtime. In fact, your chemical start-up remains unchanged, if you remember to do a well water start-up instead of a city water start-up. If there are high minerals, you definitely want those levels checked and handled before you shock the pool. If there is a lot of algae in the water, you may wish to move a bit more quickly, but it’s really no big deal. People often practically let their pools turn into a swamp, and we cure them all the time.

Please let us help you, anytime.

IMPORTANT

We write Pool Tips^™ for the exclusive use of our own local customers. They are meant as a summary of general information, to be discussed in our store, with our staff, to determine which items are best for specific pools. Pool Tips^™ are a trademark of Gull Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Our suggestions assume that you have given us a proper description of your pool's size, history and symptoms. Sometimes we can figure it out, sometimes we can't. Your doctor has years more training, far better diagnostic tools, and makes way more money—and sometimes he or she gets it wrong, too.

1. Read all labels carefully, and only use chemicals exactly as described on the label. Never mix chemicals together outside of the pool. Some of them can cause a fire or explosion.
2. Do Not follow any advice or suggestions here without coming into the store, customizing them to your specifics, and receiving them in writing.
3. Do Not print these out or reproduce for any purpose whatever. They are all copyrighted, and we take our copyrights very seriously.
4. Don't Blame Us for anything. It's free advice, and worth the price paid. We're trying to help, but pools are complex, and chemicals and electricity are dangerous.
5. Our Best Advice: Go find a local pool dealer who knows what they are doing, become a steady customer, and give them a chance to learn about you and your pool. Pick a brand, pick a store, and stay with them.

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