Standing poolside at a swim school, hotel, hydrotherapy centre, splash pad or holiday park, what is the first thing you notice? The quality, colour and clarity of the water. For smaller pools like these, the importance of filtration technology is just as critical as it is for larger commercial pools. Is it time to take responsibility and control for your pool safety? In this article, Duncan Ockendon, Aquatics Sales Manager at Evoqua Water Technologies, discusses the importance of filtration and how smaller pools can benefit from looking at alternative technologies.  

While many are aware of the rigorous quality and safety standards required for large commercial pools, a safe and comfortable bather experience is just as important for smaller facilities. Regardless of pool size, filtration is critical to ensuring the hygiene of users and play an important role in making the water look clean and inviting. 

Having high water quality and clarity is pleasant for users and encourages them to return, leading to greater customer retention and revenue. There are, however, many not-so-obvious benefits to maintaining high water quality through filtration. With crystal clear water, lifeguards and staff are able to see the bottom of the pool – essential to maintaining awareness and ensuring user safety. Likewise, removing things like cryptosporidium – a microscopic parasite – is essential to keep bathers safe and healthy. 

Traditionally, pools in the UK have used medium rate deep bed sand, glass or dual media filters. Although these provide adequate filtration, they are large, use significant volumes of backwash water, and require a coagulant chemical additive, like PAC. The alternative to deep bed filters is pre-coat or regenerative media filters (RMF), in which a series of vertical elements are coated with a disposable filter medium, normally perlite. With far better filtration without the need for coagulants, RMF systems deliver chemical savings of up to 30%. 

Often an important consideration for smaller pools is the cost of filtration. Increasingly, we are seeing the use of renewable energy-powered systems in leisure facilities. Not only do these reduce the environmental footprint and associated emissions of running filtration systems, but they also reduce the energy bill and running costs of the facility by providing electricity for things like heating and lighting. Cost-saving and sustainable measures like this are becoming a focus of local authorities.  

With space and budget often limited for smaller aquatic facilities, Evoqua has developed a cost-effective, space-saving, energy-efficient alternative filtration method. Based on Evoqua’s industry-leading Defender® RMF technology, the Defender® FP filter has been specifically designed for smaller pools with flows in the range of 24-68 m3/hr and maintains optimum clarity and quality for the best possible bather experience. 

Thanks to its innovative design, the Defender® FP filter does not use backwashing. This helps to save money by reducing water waste while simultaneously eliminating the heating costs associated with warming refill water. The average pool can realise savings of up to 90% water savings and up to 50% energy savings. Additionally, chemical treatments already diluted throughout the water body are not wasted, thanks to this water retention. Without the requirement for PAC, there is also a chemical supply saving. 

Many aquatic facilities with small pools are restricted in their available space for filtration systems. Defender® FP filter is ideally suited to these conditions and is able to easily fit into smaller plant rooms due to its compact size. Easily retrofitted to existing spaces, the Defender® FP filter is small enough to move through standard 760mm doorways, eliminating the costly “knockdown and rebuild” approach too often required with larger sand filters. Once inside the plant room, the system’s small footprint frees up space for additional storage. 

If you are considering new filtration options for your aquatic facility, consider the compact, sustainable and cost-saving Defender® FP filter. With reduced lifetime ownership costs, better filtration and easy maintenance, this new system is ideal for small pools and is rapidly growing in popularity across the UK.