We don't have a swimming pool. It is only warm enough in the frozen tundra where I live to enjoy a pool for three months at best, and even then only if you have a heater. Or I suppose if you find it invigorating to swim in frigid water, which I definitely do not. If I lived somewhere with a more temperate climate I would own a pool in a heartbeat. It seems like it would just be such a fun thing to have right there in your own yard. Not having to schlep a ton of towels, floaties, sunscreen, and other assorted crap to a separate location would make it worthwhile.

The downside to owning a swimming pool is the maintenance it requires. Both money and time are required to properly care for a swimming pool. You need to maintain the proper ph, adjust the chemicals, and run the filter which makes sure that the chemicals that kill bacteria are spread around evenly. And um, probably other stuff of which I am not even aware.

Friends of ours have pools and they are always telling me about the hassle of the chemicals and chlorine. When I was a child my hair used to turn green from the chlorine in the camp pools, but other than that I really do not remember any hassle having to do with pool maintenance. My idea of maintaining the pool was to make sure that I had a rubber raft to float on and enough bathing suits so that I never had to put on a wet one. Such is the blissful life of a child.

Now in an effort to find a more environmentally friendly way to maintain a pool, people are turning to chlorine free systems. The New York Times profiled a few companies that are revolutionizing the way people keep their pools bacteria free.

TechnoPure, a company based in Uxbridge, Mass., makes a system that pumps pool water through a chamber containing coated titanium plates which oxidize and burn off organic waste. Copper and zinc ions sanitize the water, resulting in a pool that's virtually maintenance free in terms of chemicals.

Another company takes a different approach,

DEL Ozone, based in San Luis Obispo, Calif., makes generators that inject ozone gas into the water as it recirculates, oxidizing bacteria and killing microorganisms. The generators are usually employed as a supplemental sanitizer to reduce reliance on chlorine.

These systems are on the expensive side, $10-20K in additional costs. Not to mention the hassle of finding someone to maintain the pool. I am not sure why you could not maintain it yourself. but perhaps this has more to do with the people who have an extra 20K to spend on a pool and the fact that they are more apt to have the disposable income to hire people to maintain it.

There are other options which still utilize chlorine as the primary anti bacterial agent, but use much less of it. DEL Ozone and Nature2 both sell for under $1000 and their affordability makes them much more likely to be utilized by the average homeowner.

Making Our Way has some useful hints and tips for pool maintenance. Among them:

1. buy a box of latex gloves from costco to wear while pouring chemicals into the pool. Bases like soda ash require alot of time to wash off otherwise.
2. pour chemicals close to the water so the wind does not blow them on you.

Is it just me, or did pool maintenance seem so much more effortless when you were a kid?

Jennie from Preteens, Toddlers, Newborns, Oh My! writes what I imagine everyone with a pool, but not a full time hot pool boy pool caretaker feels:

Skimming your pool in windy weather is akin to picking up the living room before your children go to bed. You turn around and the same stuff you just got rid of is laying out again. Argh!

I love having a pool about 4 months out of the year. The other 8 are a fat pain in the ass.

Brady's Bunch gives up her fear and fills her pool this year. I know exactly how she feels. We had one of those pools that was about 3ft deep that had the sides which went up as you filled it. We finally had to get rid of it when I was giving myself a nervous breakdown over my adventurous child falling in and drowning.

Joe Owens relates an America's Funniest Home Video moment:

As the filter was whirring and I was eyeballing the typical drip-drip-drip of initial connector leaks, I felt a slight spray on my face. What is this, I asked. Oh, a tiny pinhole in a hose. I leaned in closer to inspect the itty-bitty leak, when SPLASH!!!!!!

The teeney-weeney leak exploded into a full-stream hose blowout, first as a direct hit to my head, then to my entire body. Nearly knocked over, I stumbled around looking for shut-off valves. It was as if a fire hose had been turned on to me.

Oh, yes, the lovely bliss of a backyard pool.

When she isn't blogging about her life at Notes from the Trenches, Chris is working at rescuing her house from a century of neglect and bad taste. She can also be found writing about home improvement and design at DIY This N' That.