­Conceptually, swimming pools are pretty simple -- they're just big basins of water, but there is a lot of technology and chemicals at work in your average pool -- much more than you might expect. They use a combination of filtration and chemical treatment to continually clean a large volume of water. Some of this stuff might be harmful to you and the environment.

Now there's a green option. All Natural swimming pools are chemical-free, self-cleaning mini environments relying on vegetation from their “regeneration zones,” or water gardens/ponds, to filter impurities and excess nutrients back into the swimming area. An eco-friendly, self-cleaning natural pool that combines the aesthetics of nature and the cleanliness of today’s modern swimming pools.

The swimming area is only a third of the entire water feature. The rest consists of plant-regeneration zones which serve to oxygenate and clean the natural pool.
Biotop swimming pools, an Austrian company that started designing natural pools (also called swimming ponds) in 1986, is behind the concept. They have helped develop these natural pools all over Europe and are slowly making their way across the pond. Skimmers and pumps circulate the water through the regeneration zones, and also over rocks or loose gravel that serve as additional filters where “good” bacteria can grow. And, depending upon your landscape and water feature selections, natural swimming pools cost only slightly more than standard ones.

The natural swimming pool resulted in an environmentally-sensitive water feature combining sustainable design into an outdoor space ideal for exercising, relaxing or entertaining. This natural swimming pool is an eco-conscious alternative to a conventional swimming pool, where the body of water is cleansed by motion through biological filters and plants in place of chlorine. Today, there are as many as 20,000 natural swimming pools in Europe but the concept is still rare on other continents.