Do you have a swimming pool at your residence, or are planning to install one? What exactly or rather how much exactly do you know about swimming pools? Apart from the technical features and the uses of the swimming pools, there are a number of facts that you are not aware of. These are some of the most interesting facts about swimming pools that you must have not even thought of knowing and still they are amazingly surprising.
Though if once started, the list of various facts would not come to an end. But here 10 of the most interesting facts about swimming pools have been summed together that you must not have known before.
Number of swimming pools is more than residents in the New York City
As per a research conducted few years back, there are almost 8.4 million residential in the New York City. Comparison to that there is about 10 million swimming pools here. You can get swimming pools almost in all the residential areas, and also you can find pools in various open spaces in the public areas. This is the situation not only in the New York City but in many cities of the United States. So, if you are visiting the US, you will be able to view a number of swimming pools of different shapes and sizes at various places.
Olympic size pool contains water for 9,400 baths
Normally in an average, a person may take almost 70 gallons of water to have his or her bath. Now, obviously, you will wonder that how it is related to swimming pools. So, it is because if you measure the capacity of an Olympic size pool, then you will find it contains almost 660,000 gallons of water. This much water is more than enough for almost 9,400 people to take their bath quite easily. Maybe this is the reason that in previous times, such pools were an efficient way of collecting and conserving water for future use.
World’s first swimming pool
Do you know where did the world’s first swimming pool exist? It existed since the Roman times almost 5,000 years ago. The first pool was the Great Bath of Mohenjaro that is now a part of the modern Pakistan. It was an in-ground brick made a pool that has staircases for people to get down for having their bath. It was also used as an element to make the surrounding area cool and also it was a spot for various religious rituals. Though the modern swimming pools are not in the ground but the concept of making the modern day pools are almost same to some extent.
The first public pool of the US was actually indoors
The very first public pool of the US was opened in the year 1868. This was known as the Cabot Street Bath and was situated in Boston. The history says that there were a number of poor residents in the US that time that did not have bathtubs at their home. So, this was an option for such people residing nearby. Though this was a public pool but as the main concept of the pool was described to be bathing, so it was installed indoors. It is said that Philadelphia is the only place in the US, where there are still no public swimming pools available.
Chemicals are more in swimming pools than bleach
This is strange but a real fact. If you compare you can know that bleach contains about 5% of chlorine and a household cleaner may contain about 2% of chlorine. As per the Environment Protection Agency, the concentration of chlorine in swimming pools is much higher than these two elements. The chlorine density in the swimming pool is of about 12% to 95%. Of course, it depends on the size of the swimming pool, about the amount of chlorine to be used. The reason that can be explained is that chlorine gets diluted with the water in the pool and hence more amounts of chemicals are required to keep bacteria away from the pool.
A chlorine free public swimming pool is available in the US
Though chlorine is the main element of cleaning swimming pools, but in the US, there is a swimming pool that is free from any kind of chlorine. The Webber Natural Swimming Pool is opened in Minneapolis in the month of July of the year 2015. The way how they keep the pool clean also through a natural method. They have collected some aquatic plants from the nearby ponds and have planted in the pool. These plants help in keeping the water clean the way chlorine does. Of course, some of the manual cleanings is also done regularly, but it is made sure that no chemicals are used in the pool.
A pool on the school gym floor
In the movie ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, there is a description of a pool party that takes place in the school gym. As per the movie, the host hits a button, and the half of the gym floor opens up to a pool. Many of the audience must have taken this to a trick, but the fact is that this is 100% real. This swimming pool was installed in the year 1939, and it is still there at the Beverly Hills High School. This particular section of the school is known as ‘Swim Gym’ and it can be operated only by a particular person who has the keys of the floor.
World’s largest swimming pool
The world’s largest swimming pool is there at San Alfonso del Mar resort that is there at Algarroba of Chile. The swimming pool can be measured at about 20 acres and can be said to have covered about 11 soccer fields. The lowest point of the pool is kept at 11.5 feet deep thinking about the safety of the swimmers. The pool offers a number of water adventure activities such as windsurfing, kayaking, and also scuba diving.
The deepest pool
The deepest pool is yet to be constructed, and the work is about to start at the University of Essex located in England. As per the plan, the pool will have a pool that will have a depth of about 164 feet. There are chances that this will be used for research work of sea life and also for commercial diving.
Elephants and swimming pools
Now this is something very amazing. The love of elephants for swimming in a pool can be seen in the Fuji Safari Park in Japan. Here a huge swimming pool has been installed with clear glass where elephants can be seen enjoying swimming.
