About Our Pool
Our pool is an award winning pool! We also make sure we are water wise and are always working on our sustainability.
Our pool is undercover and heated to 31 degrees- which makes it very comfortable to learn to swim in all year around. It is 10m long and 5m wide. At the shallow end it is 1.1m deep and gently slopes to 1.7m at the deep end. Along one side is a 60cm wide teaching ledge where students can practice kicks etc. It contains about 70,000 litres of water. We have a gold award from the SPASA WA peak industry body (SPASA – Swimming Pool and Spa Association) for the design and build of this pool – of which we are immensely proud!
So, not only are we at the forefront of design and construction, but we also have all the latest equipment to maintain the pool at its best. We endeavour to keep the water at 3.5 units of chlorine for every million units of water. The regulations require us to be as a minimum 3ppm (we go slightly higher due to the number of small children!). Our tap water has a natural pH of 7.8. This is at the top end of the regulatory requirements. The human eye has a pH of 7.4 so we add in small doses of chemicals to keep within the required range.
We test the water 3 times a day and the log book will always be available should you want to see it. We are required to keep the data for 2 years. The City of Kalamunda will also test the water for pathogens once a month. We will make all our test results available should you wish to see them.
As all our equipment is new you can be reassured that it is state of the art, but it will need to be maintained. My husband (and Pool Boy!) has recently taken the Royal Surf Lifesaving ‘Safe Pool Operators’ course. He will be responsible for maintaining the water quality and safety of the pool environment. Should you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.
The pool and changing rooms have been approved by the Department of Health as well as the then Shire of Kalamunda. All planning and development requirements have been met and complied with. You can rest assured that your safety, and the safety of all our students is of paramount importance, which is why we have taken so long to comply with all of the confusing regulations. We are committed to our swim school and have worked hard to ensure it is compliant and legal.
In building the pool we have been very careful to reduce our environmental impact. Sadly we had to cut down one tree, but we have made planks out of it which are currently drying. These planks will turn into our dining room table eventually, and hopefully a bench or two for the pool area.
In running the pool we have installed a blackwater treatment facility as well as 5kw of solar power. We also have a solar pool heating scheme and pool covers to minimize evaporation, and heat loss. As a salt pool we will minimize the usage of liquid chlorine (but we are required to have liquid chlorine as a back-up for the salt). Our decking is made from recycled plastic bags and bamboo. Our lighting is all LED (both long lasting and highly energy efficient). We have pump controllers to ensure that they run as efficiently as possible. All our equipment is built to be as energy efficient as practical. It is also quiet too to ensure that we all enjoy the quiet beauty of the environment.
All the water from the toilets, showers and sinks is treated in our blackwater system (which is serviced every quarter). The water from that system is then used to keep the garden green (ish!). We use no drinking water on our garden. The garden is in the process of being planted. We will plant natives in order to try and attract back the lovely birdlife as well as smaller animals. We are seeking to provide plenty of native food and shelter for the critters!
We have also installed a water trough for the kangaroos that visit as well as birds and other animals. The trough uses drinking water and has a ball valve to control the flow to ensure there is always water for the animals.
We compost and recycle what we can so please do ensure that you help us to keep our environmental impact to a minimum.
We are currently supporting WA based turtle research by sponsoring a flatback turtle (called Myrtle!) in the Pilbara region.
Our pool is currently carbon neutral (we are working to become zero carbon). We are one of only 23 swim schools in Australia to be accredited as WaterWise by the Water Corporation.