November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 63

Encouraging Feedback
Operators at the Oxford Community
Center in St. Paul say since implementing the sphagnum moss filtration system, patrons notice softer,
better-hydrated skin after their swim
and a conspicuous absence of the
" chlorine smell " that was sometimes
present at the pool. " People started
stopping me [to ask], 'What are you
doing? The water is great,' " Lynn
Waldorf, aquatics director for the
City of St. Paul, commented in the
Discovery article. She estimated using the sphagnum moss filters saved
her facility approximately $35,000
in chemical costs during the summer
2012 swimming season, while revenue increased substantially as word
of mouth spread and more community members visited the pool.
Meanwhile, at the University of
Maryland, Campus Recreation Ser

Andrea Pokrzywinski

Control and Prevention has identified biofilm as being linked to several infectious diseases, and it's the
beast aquatics facilities operators are
battling daily with various cleaning
techniques, filtration systems and
chemicals, most commonly, chlorine.
With the CWS systems, sphagnum
moss comes packaged in tea bag-like
packs, which are then placed inside
a contact chamber, allowing them to
interact with and treat the water. The
moss packets' antimicrobial properties go to work making the water and
pool surfaces less hospitable to biofilm
while simultaneously releasing natural
buffers into the water, stabilizing pH
and alkalinity levels. It also binds metals like calcium, magnesium and iron,
which helps diminish scaling and staining in pipes, pumps and bulkheads.
Less gunky buildup and surface damage means lower maintenance costs -
music to a facility operator's ears.

Creative Water Solutions uses a specific
variety of sphagnum moss in its water
conditioning systems.

vices (CRS) staff are engaged in an
ongoing practice of using sphagnum
moss filtration systems. In 2010, CRS
received an almost $65,000 grant
from the University Sustainability
Fund to support the installation of
a sphagnum moss swimming pool
water treatment system for its two
indoor pools. Today, " the sphagnum
is currently used on all four of our
swimming pools, " says CRS Manager of Pool Operations Matthew
Quigley. " Initially it took some convincing for our staff to get on board,
as to the typical 'pool guy,' the moss
was a far-fetched idea and it's fairly
hard [for new products to] break into
the pool world, especially with all
the benefits the moss was claiming to
have. " But, Quigley was able to rally
his staff, and, as in St. Paul, reports
came back positive. " On average, we
save 750,000 gallons of water per
year through backwashing our filters
about one-third less, and use 40 percent less chlorine, " he says. His staff
found no accumulations of biofilm
where before it was present, and a
few swimmers " describe the water as
'softer' or less harsh on their skin and
hair. We have a few patrons who visit our facility specifically because of
our ability to run our chlorine at lower levels due to the moss - they have
harsh reactions to high chlorine. "
These results do come at a cost,
however. Quigley reported a savings
of $44,000 for CRS after implementing the sphagnum moss filtration

systems, but adds, " the grant paid for
our first year's supply. We have continued to purchase the moss through
department funding and currently
spend approximately $46,500 per
year for a 12-month supply of moss
for all of our pools. "
Still, Quigley says he would absolutely recommend pool operators give
sphagnum moss a try. At the moment,
CWS is the largest player in the game,
but as demand increases for green,
cost- and water-saving alternatives to
typical pool maintenance, one expects
the market to expand. " [Sphagnum
moss] has proven to be beneficial to
human health, the environment, our
equipment and our budget, " Quigley says. " The bottom line is that the
moss is a very low-risk/high-reward
treatment system that offers no hindrances to operations beyond cost. "
For those agencies that wish to be
on the forefront of conservation and
sustainability throughout their operations, the cost may well be worth the
reward. " CRS decided to undertake
this experiment because we are always
looking for ways to be cutting-edge in
recreation, " Quigley says. " The university has been pushing to increase
sustainability efforts, and swimming
pools are by nature very wasteful. We
believed the moss would help reduce
that waste while still allowing our
aquatic facilities to be top-notch. "
Samantha Bartram is the Associate Editor
of Parks & Recreation Magazine (sbartram@
nrpa.org).

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