Health standards[edit]
While no guidelines for natural pool water quality currently exist in the United States, European and European-style NSP builders follow the EEC bath waters guideline 2006/7/EG concerning the quality of bath waters and their management. Specific health guidelines are also clearly established in the German FLL Guidelines, which are adhered to by NSP builders throughout Europe. On March 4, 2006, new pool water standards were published in the Official Journal of the European Union. These standards, enacted throughout Europe within two years, outline the methods of monitoring pool water quality. Unlike conventional North American swimming pools whose sanitation levels are monitored by testing for proper pool chemical balance, European-style NSPs maintain strict standards for bacterial levels. Peter Petrich, an originator of natural swimming pools in Austria, has said that the risk of swimmers becoming sick is "very low." [5]
Properly built public NSPs in Europe, some that see up to 3,000 swimmers per day, are able to meet these high sanitation standards.[12][13] The first public Natural Swimming Pool in North America has been designed to accommodate over 1,000 bathers per day. Thus, the efficacy of the NSP cleaning process remains in little doubt.