On a planet that is heating faster than it cools, where evaporation outpaces recharge and cities consume more than they replenish, we continue to allow millions of liters of potable water to evaporate every day from uncovered, uncontrolled, and unmonitored private pools. The solution is not to ban leisure, but to rethink it. In urban and peri-urban areas facing high water stress—where households represent a significant share of total demand—private pools can consume more water annually than an entire household. The challenge is vast, but so is the opportunity: for each optimized pool, between 30,000 and 50,000 liters per season can be saved—equivalent to one person’s annual potable water supply.
This project aims to transform water use in residential swimming pools through accessible technology, digital monitoring, and behavior-smart campaigns. The goal is not just to reduce water demand, but to create a new cultural and technical standard for managing a scarce resource at the household level. The model is simple, scalable, and traceable. Each installed pool cover, each real-time alert, and each data-based maintenance decision becomes a measurable change in the consumption curve. Collectively, this can reduce 20% to 35% of total pool water use, with immediate benefits for the watershed, drinking water utilities, and urban resilience.
Aligned with the Water Positive framework, this intervention fulfills the core principles of additionality, intentionality, and traceability—generating a net water benefit that is measurable and attributable to deliberate actions, not incidental trends. The benefit is calculated using VWBA 2.0 – Reduced Consumption, comparing real consumption before and after the intervention, with external verification and digital follow-up. In a global context where every cubic meter counts, this solution shows that even recreational water use can contribute to collective water security. Because being part of the solution doesn’t always require massive infrastructure—sometimes, it starts with closing a lid, reading a number, and changing a habit.
In municipalities facing increasing water stress and a high density of private pools—as seen in many Mediterranean urban areas or the central-southern regions of Chile—seasonal water use for pool filling, evaporation, and maintenance can represent up to 10% of total residential demand during the summer months. This intensive pattern not only puts pressure on distribution systems, but also exposes drinking water networks to losses and imbalances during critical periods. In response, this project offers an innovative and replicable solution: a comprehensive water efficiency program for pools that combines efficiency kits (thermal covers, dosing devices, level sensors), smart monitoring, digital alerts, and user education, delivering real and sustainable water savings.
Implementation is carried out in partnership with local governments, neighborhood associations, technology providers, and water operators. Water benefit traceability is ensured through comparison of pre- and post-intervention user consumption and can be integrated into smart metering platforms or corporate ESG reporting. In the short term, an average reduction of 25% in pool water consumption is expected, easing pressure on local catchments and delaying investments in network expansions. In the medium and long term, the project contributes to building more resilient, aware, and water-responsible communities, strengthening both local and regional water governance.
The model’s strength lies in its replicability: any service provider, municipality, or utility can adopt and scale it. From a corporate perspective, it represents a unique opportunity for companies in the construction, water, insurance, or technology sectors to advance their ESG goals, enhance their reputation, and offer tangible solutions to their clients. Participating in this shift not only positions the company as an active sustainability agent—it demonstrates a concrete commitment to the most valuable resource of the 21st century. In a world demanding action and coherence, leading the transformation of household water use is, paradoxically, one of the most strategic moves a company can make.
The project proposes a comprehensive transformation of water treatment systems in pools, replacing the chemical-based conventional approach with a natural, physical, and biological model. The system operates in situ and eliminates the need for draining or purging. It integrates a set of components that, together, maintain optimal water quality over long periods with minimal intervention:
This configuration ensures sustained operational stability, eliminating the need for annual draining, avoiding systematic purging, and minimizing induced evaporation. The result is not only structural water efficiency but also significant improvements in water quality, user experience, and sanitary and environmental safety.
SDG 6 – Clean water and sanitation: The solution reduces water use by eliminating unnecessary replacement practices and prevents the discharge of contaminated effluents by eliminating chemical usage. This enhances both water use efficiency and water quality, protecting aquatic ecosystems and sanitation systems.
SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities: By converting urban pools into efficient, chemical-free infrastructure, the project reduces environmental impact, improves the urban environment, and promotes healthier, more inclusive, and resilient facilities.
SDG 12 – Responsible consumption and production: The system removes the need to manufacture, transport, and dispose of chemical products, encouraging sustainable operational practices in pool management and reducing hazardous waste associated with conventional systems.
SDG 13 – Climate action: Reductions in water and energy use positively impact the carbon footprint of the facility. Additionally, the system strengthens resilience against drought and water scarcity, improving climate adaptation in vulnerable areas.
SDG 17 – Partnerships for the goals: The project relies on collaboration between operators, technical experts, and traceability platforms to validate results and enable scaling.
The system is implemented through a modular and adaptable approach that allows retrofitting of existing pools or designing new ones with water efficiency and sustainability as core principles. The implementation is structured in three phases:
This project aims to transform the operational model of large-volume swimming pools through the incorporation of natural, chemical-free water treatment technologies, with a focus on structurally reducing water consumption. The proposal is framed within the context of increasing pressure on urban and peri-urban water resources, where recreational, sports, and wellness facilities still operate using water-intensive and chlorine-based models that generate considerable environmental and health impacts.
The project is proposed as a replicable pilot in clubs, tourist complexes, spas, and municipal swimming pools, where integrated water treatment systems will be installed. These systems are based on biofiltration, UV-C radiation, advanced oxidation processes, and total water recovery during cleaning operations. The system completely eliminates the use of chlorine and the need for periodic draining, weekly purging, or backwashing with water loss.
Local operating conditions show historically high consumption rates—between two and five times the total pool volume per year—due to maintenance practices involving regular water disposal. Additionally, discharges containing chlorinated compounds place diffuse pressure on sanitation networks and receiving water bodies. Implementing the proposed system will reduce annual water use by up to 95%, eliminate chemical impacts, and enhance operational water resilience.
Initial Assessment
The shared water challenge addressed by this project is the excessive and unaccounted-for water use in the recreational and sports sector, particularly in large pools that follow traditional operation schemes. The diagnosis identifies the following main issues:
From a methodological standpoint, the project applies the VWBA 2.0 framework, with an emphasis on water efficiency, since the primary impact addressed is the relative scarcity and inefficient use of blue water in urban environments. Additionally, the WQBA (Water Quality Benefit Accounting) framework is considered a secondary component, as the elimination of chemicals also improves residual water quality and reduces diffuse pollution.
Key stakeholders include recreational infrastructure managers (clubs, municipalities, tourism operators), environmental and health regulatory bodies, and technical solution providers for water management. From a regulatory perspective, the project aligns with consumption reduction guidelines (SDG 6), discharge regulations (local wastewater standards), and efficiency standards in both public and private operations.
Additionality is guaranteed as this is a non-mandatory intervention that replaces structurally inefficient operational processes. The benefits would not occur without the specific system intervention, and the savings are directly attributable to the actions implemented.
Project Design
The type of intervention is aligned with urban water efficiency, using clean technologies that allow water to be conserved and recovered within the same system. The approach based on grey infrastructure (e.g., additional retention structures) or nature-based solutions (e.g., wetlands) is excluded, since the system is fully self-contained.
The methodological selection follows VWBA 2.0, specifically Method A-2, which is suitable for projects that reduce water use in urban operations by cutting operational consumption, eliminating structural losses, and recovering the resource. As a complementary element, the project may register water quality indicators under the WQBA approach, although quantitative benefits will not be reported under this component.
The baseline is defined using operational records from conventionally managed pools of similar volume, estimating total annual water consumption (replacement + purging + cleaning + evaporation replenishment). This baseline allows the project to establish the differential consumption post-intervention, validated with empirical data during the first year of system operation.
Selected indicators include:
Technical additionality is clearly justified, as the proposed system replaces a structurally inefficient practice not mandated by regulation. In other words, without this intervention, pools would continue operating under a loss-and-replacement model. The benefit is therefore direct, attributable, permanent, and measurable.
