Just had to jump back in with another rant on conserving water, if you didn’t see my first take at this please check out my previous post save the water. Today I saw a video with a headline “oceans will be filled with more plastic than fish by 2050,” I didn’t have time to watch the video, but if I do get a chance and it’s good I’ll post it here. The topic of water pollution and water waste are very serious and time sensitive and something we take very seriously at Idealize La. It is both a local problem and global problem and something I think we should all individually strive to make positive impacts at. I want to share another great way to reduce your water consumption whether in LA or anywhere else in the world. Todays way to save is by conserving your pool water, whether to evaporation or simply waste. Many of us have pools or know someone who does. In my opinion I think pools are to a large extent unnecessary, but that doesn’t change the fact that many people have them and that a lot of people waste a lot of water because of them. I learned this a long time ago because a friends dad owns a pool remodel company in Phoenix, and he took the topic of wasting water very seriously, you can check his company out at poolremodelphoenix.org, to see some of the stuff they do. I asked him to give me a few good ideas for people to help people reduce the amount of water they waste annually. So here are a few things he told me that you can employ yourself or share with someone that you know owns a pool that will save water and money.

1. This one is the most important thing you can do to save water long term, and something that many homeowners don’t do, which is getting a pool cover. A pool cover will dramatically reduce the amount of water that evaporates from your pool, apparently up to 90%-95%, which is huge. My friends dad said you can have a specialist come out and custom fit a cover for your pool, or you can buy the material yourself and cut it out to fit your pool, he highly recommends the specialists however. More than reducing evaporation, he also said the cover will keep your pool clean and more sanitary helping to reduce the amount of chemicals needed, and the need to drain it. The cover will also temperature control your pool, and make it cooler during hot summer days and warmer on those cold days. The only downside to the cover is the labor involved in taking it off and putting it back on, but nobody ever said conserving water didn’t take some effort.
2. Another great way to reduce evaporation and water loss is to mitigate how often you use your water features. Features like waterfalls greatly increase evaporation and water loss. By reducing how often you turn on your water feature you can make a noticeable effort on your pools water loss.
3. Something else to consider to do your part in conserving water is to lower your pools water level. By dropping the water level an inch or two you can reduce how much water is lost to splashing, excessive play, or even normal use. According to my dads friend, most people are not aware of how much water simply splashes out of the pool. This isn’t hard for me to understand with my childhood cannonball challenges with friends, which I know contributed to heavy water loss in my parents pull.
4. For those that have heaters for your pool, making sure to turn off the heater or reduce how often you use it during the summer will help to reduce evaporation. He said pool covers like mentioned earlier are a great alternative to heating your pool both financially and environmentally.
5. Last but certainly not last, be conscious of how often you drain your pool. Apparently a pool only needs to be drained and refilled once every 3-7 years if properly maintained. He said the common misconception is that a pool must be cleaned every year, which he said is entirely wrong. If you employ good sanitation techniques and again us a pool cover you should be able to preserve the time span between draining your pool significantly.

Hopefully some of these tips helped and will be employed by some of our readers. We all know water is a precious resource, and will probably come to understand this far better in years to come when fresh water becomes scarcer. By being mindful of your water consumption both in your home and in your backyard you can help to take stress off the quickly diminishing water table, and leave water for generations to come. I don’t think we will ever truly understand the value of water until its too late, but hopefully enough will take action before then. If you found this article informative please comment and share!

Thanks Pool Remodel Phoenix and all of our readers!

Save Water – Save Life