Sustainability has made a splash at the university's indoor pools due to the recent installation of a filtering system that utilizes an unlikely green ingredient — moss — to decrease water consumption and save money on pool maintenance.
Officials installed the Sphagnum Moss Swimming Pool Water Treatment System in both of Eppley Recreation Center's indoor pools last week after Campus Recreation Services received a nearly $65,000 grant from last year's University Sustainability Fund — a reserve collected from mandatory student fees used for supporting eco-friendly initiatives on the campus. CRS will save about $65,000 on chemical and water bills on the campus. CRS will save about $65,000 on chemical and water bills within about a year, CRS Manager Amanda Delaney said.
As pool water trickles through mesh bags of moss, which are hidden in a series of filtration chambers in the pools, the plant naturally wards off bacteria. This alternative to standard chemical treatments, such as chlorine, will lessen the chemicals needed by 40 percent and limit the need to drain and scrub the pools — ultimately curtailing the pools' water consumption by 75 percent.
Although the state still mandates the pools to maintain a certain level of chemicals, Delaney said using moss as the primary cleaning method will require much less upkeep than the previous treatment mode.
"It will be less maintenance required in the pools because bacteria won't be growing," Delaney said.
She said this system — the largest application of moss treatment of its kind in the country — is simple, yet packs a powerful punch.
"In the pool industry, you see a lot of high-tech systems," Delaney said. "The innovation [of this system] is complex, but the actual system is simple."
CRS officials are hoping to use the savings to bring the moss to the outdoor pool within the next two years, Delaney said.
"We're really excited about the results we could see with this system," Delaney said.
The reduction in chlorine use makes swimming more comfortable and improves the air quality around the pool, according to Delaney, and student swimmers said they have started to notice a slight change.
"It doesn't smell as bad," said Feng Zhao, a geography graduate student.
Swimmers have another reason to smile, Delaney said, because the moss fights bacteria that cause plaque growth on teeth in the same way it cleans the pool water.
CRS student pool staff will be directly involved with maintaining the treatment systems. Delaney said 25 student operators were trained last week to fluff the moss in the middle of each month and replace it with a fresh batch at the start of a new month.
"It's supposed to improve conditions in the pool, so it'll be less chemicals to work with," said Kevin Roeder, a junior computer science major and student pool operator.
Office of Sustainability spokeswoman Fran Avendano — who swims in the indoor pool every day — said CRS's innovative use of a natural substance could help inspire other university departments gunning for grants to establish fortheir own eco-friendly projects.
"It definitely serves as a model for what the departments can do to put together a proposal with significant savings," Avendano said.
The treatment system represents the ultimate goal of the sustainability fund, Avendano said, which is to foster projects among specific departments that help make the university more eco-conscious as a whole.
"It's about projects that really affect the community and are created by the community and for the community," Avendano said of the fund. "It represents what we would like to achieve, which is outreach and participation by everyone."
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