23 Breathtaking Natural Swimming Pools (2024)

According to Brown, people always ask the health question first. He says people just need to think about pools a little differently. "Instead of creating an abhorrence of nature where everything is dead, it's creating natural healthy water that takes care of itself," says Brown.

Brown believes properly designed natural pools provide virtually no risk of dangerous contamination, provided they are used reasonably, and not constantly stuffed to capacity with bathers. He says most health departments don't have any regulations on residential pools, so consumers have little worry about breaking any local codes. However, that's not necessarily the case with public pools, which often do have strict requirements.

Taking up the natural pools banner in California is Vista-based Expanding Horizons, which has been designing and installing water features, gardens and other projects since 1978.

The approach of Expanding Horizons founder Bryan Morse is to construct what he calls a "hybrid pool," which incorporates technology commonly found in conventional pools such as pool cleaners, surface skimmers, and main drains. The designs often include beach entries, and water plants are seeded into the nooks and crannies between the perimeter boulders to enhance the natural experience.

Based in Bristol in the United Kingdom, Clear Water Revival makes some of the most appealing, sparkling, drool-worthy natural pools anywhere. The company's goal is to bring back an essence of Victorian England, with modern understanding of science and ecology. The gorgeous pools can even replace some of the ecological functions lost with the vast destruction of wetlands, particularly in the form of habitat for plants.

Clear Water Revival tends to focus its natural pool designs around maximizing biodiversity and the educational value of the space, creating a very natural look and feel. There are a number of options offered, from simple clay linings to more advanced systems. Customers can even order DIY kits.

Clear Water Revival works with a network of partners across the UK, and also offers renewable energy systems for pool heating and homes. The company has partnered with the Aqua Viva group of Austria and Germany in many of its pool designs, allowing for high efficiency systems. Affected pools can function well with fewer plants and only 20% of the area taken up by the regeneration zone (50% is more common).

Aqua Viva systems have long-term filtration, with little maintenance needed, a unique substrate for plants and several advanced pumps and skimmers. The result is a lot of clean, healthy pool in a small space, if needed.

Another British leader is gartenART, which boasts innovative, beautiful natural swimming pools.

Have your own unique design built, or convert your conventional swimming pool to a natural one, keeping the original swimming area (or altering it if you wish). You just need to add a shallow plant area around it to enable natural purification. Another option is to keep the existing structure of the swimming pool and create the two areas inside that, giving you more flexibility.

Will Woodhouse of UK-based Woodhouse Natural Pools has been developing and building natural swimming pools since 2000. Woodhouse has partnered with Austria's Biotop Natural Pool, which is one of the industry's original pioneers.

Woodhouse points out that, besides being beautiful, his natural pools naturally warm up fast and efficiently in the sun, meaning they don't cost a fortune to heat (like many conventional pools). Woodhouse also touts the "softness" of the water, which he promotes as being especially gentle on skin and hair.

Natural landscape architect and garden designer Michael Littlewood of Somerset in the UK also has extensive experience in successfully designing natural swimming pools. In fact, he even wrote the first book in English on the subject, Natural Swimming Pools, Inspiration for Harmony with Nature, available on his website.

Do it yourselfers can get help from Littlewood's guide Natural Swimming Pools, A Guide for Building.