In 1996, Mick Hilleary was asked to design a zoo habitat for a family of otters. The pond water had to be kept clean and crystal-clear, without using chemicals. After studying research from the aquarium industry, he created a pond that relies on friendly bacteria, biological filters, and a UV sterilizer to keep it fresh. “The otters were frolicking and having so much fun, my partner and I looked at each other and said, ‘We've got to do this for us,'” he says. By 2000, Hilleary had added a pool sideline to his zoo-exhibit business, Total Habitat, in Bonner Springs, Kan.
Since then, Hilleary has built about 30 natural swimming pools, most of them residential. The pools have pumps that oxygenate the water and draw it through a regeneration zone containing large gravel filters or plants. Beneficial bacteria live on those surfaces and eat the microbes, keeping the water clear enough to see the bottom. “Our filter capacities are adequate for humans, fish, dogs, and cats,” Hilleary says.
Natural swimming pools are foreign to most U.S. pool contractors, but they're a large industry in Europe, where the concept originated 20-some years ago. Biotop, the Austrian company credited with originating the idea, has installed more than 3,500 natural swimming pools for residential and public use, according to the company. The low operating and energy costs appeal to municipalities overseeing public pools.
