Why every pool should be covered – World Water Day 2021
On the 22nd March every year, World Water Day celebrates water, and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis.
Valuing water
The theme for this year’s World Water Day is about ‘valuing water’, and about what water means to people, and for us, this is all about how we can play our part in protecting this vital resource.
Whether it is for fitness, sport or leisure, pool users are enjoying the benefits of a sustained and reliable water supply. We enjoy its benefits but do we value the abundance of the resource we use? Those of us who enjoy water in its abundance can so easily take this resource for granted. Is it only in times of drought restrictions or prices increase that its value is brought to light?
This thought brings our minds back to Cape Town, South Africa in late 2017, where the populace worked to prevent ‘Day Zero’ – the days taps would run out. Suddenly the value of water was shown so clearly. Everyone you spoke to knew the exact amount of water they used. Stopwatches were used to keep showers to a limited time, everyone knew how much water was in their bath, their sink, and what was the water cost of washing their hair or dishes.
For pool owners the choice was clear. Cover your pool! Reduce waste and preserve the resource you have.
When asking ourselves are we valuing water? How can I save waste? For a pool owner the first question should be is my pool covered?
Owning and running a swimming pool will naturally increase a household’s water usage significantly due to things like back-washing, and water splashing out of the pool. A substantial percentage of your pool’s water consumption will also be due to evaporation.
A pool cover is a simple cost-effective way of reducing water wastage in a pool. When a pool is covered evaporation is reduced by 98% +.
There are many do’s and don’ts when it comes to owning a swimming pool but perhaps one of the most important things to remember, for an energy and resource efficient pool is that it should always be covered whenever it is not in use. During a pool season in the UK the average uncovered pool will lose approximately 21,780 litres* of water to evaporation – equivalent to 270 baths, or over 87 thousand cups of tea.
* Based on an 8x4m pool (41,600 litres) in the pool season (182 days a year) in the UK.
Climate change is becoming an increasing concern for pool owners looking to reduce their energy and resource consumption. Many pool owners underestimate something as simple as the benefits of a quality pool cover and its positive impact on resource consumption. Studies from the US Department of Energy have shown evaporation is responsible for 70% of the heat loss from an outdoor pool.
Our GeoBubble™ covers provide a barrier over the pool eliminating 98% of evaporation, and preserving this vital resource. Without a cover, the potential energy wasted due to evaporation is huge.
For example, it would take 583 kCal to evaporate 1kg of water at 26°C equating to 12.7 million kCals for your average swimming pool over the season. This is a staggering 14750 kWhs, enough energy to power your TV 475 hours or 5 hours a day for 95 days (that’s a lot of Netflix!).
With a solar heating pool cover you stop the energy from the Sun evaporating water and instead harness this energy to help heat your pool. So, by covering your pool with a GeoBubble™ cover, your pool heater doesn’t have to work as hard, ultimately saving you money on your energy bill.
All GeoBubble™ covers will provide this essential Evaporation Control, as well as Heat Retention, Debris Control and Temperature Control for your pool, and GeoBubble’s unique bubble design means that the expected lifespan of your pool cover is increased by 25%.
The water saved by covering your pool and preventing evaporation for one season is enough for 270 baths or over 87 thousand cups of tea. The energy saved in the same period is enough to power your TV for 5 hours a day for 95 days, or enough to power 112 15-watt light bulbs for a year 24 hours a day.
Which cover type?
All types of pool cover will provide you with greater evaporation control when compared to an uncovered pool, but which cover type has the best performance?
A study carried out by the California State Polytechnic University investigated the evaporation reduction efficiencies of a range of pool covers, the results of which are shown in the table below:
| Cover type | Average Efficiency |
| Liquid Cover (isopropanol and ethanol) | 14.4% |
| Solid Track Cover | 93.9% |
| Foam Cover | 95.9% |
| Standard Bubble Cover | 94.9% |
| Solar Disks | 50.1% |
The study showed that liquid covers and solar disks provided substantially less effective evaporation control, with foam being the most effective, and a standard bubble cover showing around 95% efficiency.
However, from our own evaporation control testing we have seen that a GeoBubble™ cover will provide up to 98% evaporation reduction.
For further savings for your particular needs, take a look at our high-performance Guard materials.
Join the conversation about what water means to you using the hashtags #WorldWaterDay and #Water2me