SPLASH 141 April-May 2022

Swimming Pools / Leisure / Aquatics / Spas / Health

Issue 141 April/May 2022

Accessible swimming for everyone

What makes a Freshwater pool Pool industry Overcoming the floods Inspiring Commercial projects

It’s time to embrace the ‘new normal’ in swimming pool water disinfection If there’s anything recent times have taught us, it’s that our lives have changed forever. We must work harder to keep our communities safe as well as protect our planet’s resources.

For years people have been disinfecting their swimming pools with liquid or granular chlorine dosing. It’s unsafe, cumbersome and wastes millions of litres of water each year.

Independent tests and research by Griffith University Brisbane showed that when using liquid or granular chlorine pool water was unbalanced 50% and 80% of the time respectively.

Yet with AIS Water’s disinfection technology the water was balanced 100% of the time. That same research showed that AIS Water’s technology saves up to 1.6million litres of water, in one 50 metre swimming pool each year. That’s over $40,000 AUD per year in savings.* AIS Water offers the most efficient and safest method of disinfecting pool water as chlorine is created within the pool water, not added.

It’s time to farewell history and embrace the ‘new normal’ of Australian made, water disinfection.

TRADITIONAL METHODS OF CHLORINE DOSING:

AIS WATER TECHNOLOGY:

• Dangerous • Cumbersome • Waste water

• Convenient • Safe • Saves water

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* Grifith University study has a 95% confidence level (+/- .05) and is based on an average long course 50m pool with a water cost of $1.60/kL. The cost comparison is based on AIS Water technology versus granular and liquid dosing. © Australian Innovative Systems Pty Ltd 2020.

For freshwater swimming pools EcoLine® is the absolute ‘best in class’ inline chlorine generator designed for low-salinity and competition swimming pools with TDS levels between 1200ppm and 4,000ppm.

AIS Water defines a commercial freshwater swimming pool as pool water with TDS levels between 1200 – 2,500ppm.

AR

Download the AIS Water AR app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and scan product images or the AIS Water logo to learn “Why choose AIS technology?”

For salt-water pools AutoChlor® is a well-recognised, global brand of inline chlorine generators and is considered essential for salt-water, coastline and seawater pools with salinity levels between 4,000 - 35,000ppm.

A 25 year history of innovation and a laser focus in chlorine generation via electrolysis.

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Published by The Intermedia Group Pty Ltd ABN 940 025 83 682 41 Bridge Road, Glebe, NSW, 2037 Australia Ph: (02) 9660 2113 Fax: (02) 9660 4419 On behalf of The Swimming Pool & Spa Association of Australia Ltd (SPASA Australia)

editorial

Publisher: Simon Cooper

The pool and spa industry coming together to help the community

Managing Editor: Chris Maher Phone: 0412 048 639 Email: chrismaher@intermedia.com.au Contributors: Veda Dante, Cal Stanley, Jonty Mills, Brett Lloyd Abbott, Justin Scarr.

Advertising Manager: David Stennett Phone: 0404 725 554 Email: david@spasa.com.au

The Northern Rivers had long been my favourite part of the world.

In my twenties I travelled the globe, and still couldn’t find anywhere better. So when I had the chance to move there, I jumped at it.

It was vastly different to the two places I’d lived immediately prior: hectic, cold London; and grungy, noisy Darlinghurst.

The Northern Rivers people were easy going and diverse. We had friends who were farmers, students, musicians and small businesspeople.

My then girlfriend (now my wife of 30 years) got a job at the Splash Factory, an aboveground pool in the South Lismore industrial estate. It was still there, last time I passed by. She taught swimming specialising in babies, even newborns.

Two years in a row Lismore flooded. It stopped us from going to college and to work. It required a bit of cleaning up, but it wasn’t too daunting. For us city folk it was even a bit exciting. Everything was back to normal in a relatively short time.

But that’s not what it was like this year. These two floods broke the levee and reached unimaginable levels, several metres above previous records. Unprecedented. People died, homes were destroyed, businesses washed away.

I spoke to a retailer who’d had his businesses wrecked, and he was stoic after the first flood. Then came the second, heartbreaking deluge. After that, he seemed less confident.

Despite the horror of the floods, it was inspiring to see people coming together (notably without government assistance, an absence mentioned by most people).

One positive was the role the swimming pool industry played, showing it is an integral cog in the working of a healthy community.

Not only the tradies who helped evacuate people and get their houses back up and running, but the suppliers and builders who loaded up their trucks with vital supplies, and the aquatic centres that were quickly transformed into evacuation centres for the desperate locals.

Of course, the Northern Rivers was not the only area affected.

There was terrible damage in Queensland and also down the New South Wales coast.

I hope and pray all the people affected by the floods can overcome the devastation and get their lives back on track.

We shouldn’t forget them. The recovery won’t happen overnight.

Production Manager: Jacqui Cooper Subscriptions: 1800 651 422 Email: subscriptions@intermedia.com.au Copyright All material in this publication is copyright to the publisher and/or its contributors. No material may be reproduced without the express permission of the publishers.

Disclaimer: This publication is published by The Intermedia Group Pty Ltd (the “Publisher”) on behalf of SPASA Australia. Materials in this publication have been created by a variety of different entities and, to the extent permitted by law, the Publisher accepts no liability for materials created by others. All materials should be considered protected by Australian and international intellectual property laws.

Unless you are authorised by law or the copyright owner to do so, you may not copy any of the materials. The mention of a product or service, person or company in this publication does not indicate the Publisher’s endorsement. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Publisher, its agents, company officers or employees. Any use of the information contained in this publication is at the sole risk of the person using that information. The user should make independent enquiries as to the accuracy of the information before relying on that information. All express or implied terms, conditions, warranties, statements, assurances and representations in relation to the Publisher, its publications and its services are expressly excluded save for those conditions and warranties which must be implied under the laws of any State of Australia or the provisions of Division 2 of Part V of the Trade Practices Act 1974 and any statutory modification or re-enactment thereof. To the extent permitted by law, the Publisher will not be liable for any damages including special, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages (including but not limited to economic loss or loss of profit or revenue or loss of opportunity) or indirect loss or damage of any kind arising in contract, tort or otherwise, even if advised of the possibility of such loss of profits or damages. While we use our best endeavours to ensure accuracy of the materials we create, to the extent permitted by law, the Publisher excludes all liability for loss resulting from any inaccuracies or false or misleading statements that may appear in this publication.

Chris Maher Managing Editor chrismaher@ intermedia.com.au

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Copyright © 2022 - SPASA Australia.

Swimming Pools / Leisure / Aquatics / Spas / Health

Proudly supported by Issue 141 April/May 2022

The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the above supporters, nor should any product advertised in SPLASH! magazine be seen to be endorsed by the above.

Accessible swimming

The cover

for everyone

What makes a Freshwater pool Pool industry Overcoming the floods Inspiring Commercial projects

The cover shows the serpentine 50-metre resort lagoon pool built by Surfside Pools Commercial on the Gold Coast. There is more on this and other inspiring commercial projects on page 60.

Image by Paul Broben Photography.

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30

Contents 23

A growth year coming to the land of the long white cloud Jonty Mills shares some of the positives he sees on the horizon, in what he expects to be a year of growth for the New Zealand industry.

38

26

Customer relationship management more important than ever Brett Lloyd Abbott explains why he believes CRM will be vital in 2022 to avoid being overwhelmed by the increased level of enquiry.

28

What is water?

Cal Stanley explains exactly what water is, and how knowing its properties can help us understand how better to move it.

38

What does “fresh” mean in freshwater systems?

Veda Dante investigates what people believe the term “freshwater” to mean in relation to swimming pools and sanitisation, and gets widely varied answers.

50

The great debate, part one As a preview of one of the two debates being held at the SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show, we get insights from some of the main participants in the pool heating discussion.

66

30

Northern Rivers floods: tales from the trenches We talk to Lismore pool retailer John McAuley and Queensland pool construction carpenter Tora Waldren, and get two unique industry perspectives on the disastrous northern floods.

regulars

60

Inspiring commercial projects A look at some of the interesting awardwinning commercial projects from the 2021 National SPASA Australia awards.

62

The swimming carnival: much more than a blue, red or green ribbon Justin Scarr fondly looks back on the old school swimming carnival, and laments the decline in children’s swimming skills since the covid shutdowns.

66

News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Commercial news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Pool DAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

New products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Ad index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Accessibility: opening up aquatic services to all Veda Dante looks at the benefits of swimming pool therapy and water exercise for people with disabilities, and at how pools are being made more accessible to accommodate them.

April/May 2022 SPLASH! 11

news

Floods

Salt runs dry as impact of flooding hits The devastating floods in Queensland and New South Wales have left consumers in desperate need for help from pool and spa professionals.

While many are meeting that challenge, more could be done if not for a shortage of chemicals, particularly pool salt.

JC Pool Services has shops in the Brisbane suburbs of Norman Park, Fairfield and Wishart and employs seven pool technicians.

Area manager Josh Higby says they have been inundated with calls.

“Sales and service calls have been off the charts – but the stock situation is crushing. We just can’t get a hold of anything basic,” Higby says.

He says it was virtually impossible to get salt, chlorine and buffer in Queensland at the time of writing.

“We’re always prepared on floc,” he says. “But I’ve sold 500 units across the company in a week.”

He says that while the surging demand for chemicals and service calls has broken all sales records, they would have done close to three times as many sales if they had access to more chemicals.

“We ran out of salt last Monday,” he says. “And we burned through eight pallets of Magnapool in nine business days.”

An island in the flood Fortunately they weren’t flooded out themselves, although the hillside shop in Fairfield became an island, with water all around and only one road in.

“We lost power in two of our stores and we had some trouble with a few techs getting to work because they were flooded in,” he says.

“We ran generators at the two stores and supplied chemicals just on

Two floods devastated the northern rivers and south east Queensland region within a month good faith because there was no power for payments, so we took names on pieces of paper. We tried to do what we could for the community and sort out as many pools as possible.

“We normally do about 60 pools a day, but as of Friday we had that number plus another 200 on our list. We managed to service about 80 per cent of them last week, and the rest this week. But our pending system is still full.”

He says there was a huge demand for draining and cleaning swimming pools, but that was not possible at the time of writing.

“There’s a lot of pools along the Brisbane River and we just can’t drain them yet. I saw a pic of a pool that popped in Wishart because the water table was still too high. It will be at least another week before we can think about draining, possibly a couple of weeks depending on the amount of rain we get – and we’re expecting another big downpour.

“Mostly people are after salt – its affecting everyone really hard – they can’t run their chlorinators without it. So people are having to buy chlorine and dose the pool with it, which is just adding more pressure to everyone.”

Higby wasn’t in the industry during the last giant flood in 2011, but people in the know tell him this one is bigger.

“This is the worst weather event I’ve ever seen, and the owners say this is worse than 2011 – more people with more problems.”

There are more stories on the impact of the floods on the pool and spa community on page 30.

Community

Pool and spa industry comes together to aid flood victims Amid the devastation of flooded towns, destroyed homes, ruined businesses and loss of life, there have been stories of stoic survivors and communities coming together.

The swimming pool and spa industry has been one of the communities that has dug deep and helped those in their local area – even crossing borders to help those further afield.

Gold Coast based Beith Building and Total Concept Pools general manager Jaz Stokes describes what has been happening during the unprecedented floods.

“We’ve had rivers where we’ve never had rivers before. Personally, I haven’t been affected but I’ve been sharing a lot of the information from our subbies and others in the industry.”

Apart from some minor water coming through the back of their factory in Burleigh Heads, the main thing they’ve had to do for clients was dewatering pools that have filled up, putting in drainage gravel and making the sites as safe as possible.

“We had to buy some more submersible pumps to keep up with the dewatering of all the sites and pools. We’ve been extremely lucky, it’s nothing compared to what others have had to do with cleaning up homes, shops and businesses.”

12

SPLASH!

April/May 2022

Mercy mission In an effort to help those worse off, their employees and subbies have crossed the border into northern New South Wales to assist the struggling communities of the Northern Rivers.

“Some of our team, Jack, Nathan and Tora, have gone down to help clean up over the weekend. One of them actually got a bit of a bug from the mud and dust that’s everywhere down there,” she says.

“Some of our suppliers like Buyrite Steel have been organising places for people to drop off goods and then loading up their crane trucks and driving down to the Northern Rivers. They’ve been collecting donations from the community and suppliers including sanitary products, clothing, first aid supplies, cleaning products, lots of water, pet food supplies, tanks of fuel…”

Some of the other people going down to help out include Tom from Borderline Plumbing, the guys from Bay Plumbing and from Forefront Plumbing and Maintenance.

“They have been doing everyone’s hose feeds for free. BDR Electrical has been going and helping with electrical works – they do a day or two, and then come back so they can keep their businesses running here on the Coast,” she says.

“This is the great thing about social media – everyone’s been sharing things and seeing who’s dropping stuff off each day. It’s been amazing to see, which is great because we haven’t seen anything from the government.”

She says there has been an overwhelming number of volunteers showing up and although the government assistance hasn’t been there, it is inspiring the way the community is helping one another.

She says this is amazing to see after the difficult and sometimes divisive years under the strain of covid.

“The community is really coming together,” she says. “It’s great that everyone’s doing it, and it’s great that the industry is doing it. It’s awesome to see everyone coming together after being divided and isolated for so long.

“It’s a long road of recovery ahead for the locals of these towns and we are just glad that they feel supported by their neighbours and hope that in some way, it eases some of their pain of losing everything.”

There are more stories on the impact of the floods on the pool and spa community on page 30, including an interview with Tora Waldren from Total Concept Pools.

Dec Jan

Annual pool DAs growth slows, quarter dips Comparing the available pool DA figures for the 12 months to March with the same period last year, annual applications are up 19 per cent nationally. This represent eight per cent less growth than the 12-months-to-January figures. Queensland was up by 38 per cent, Western Australia up by 26 per cent, New South Wales up by 18 per cent and Victoria up by 12 per cent, while South Australia was down by 36 per cent.

The numbers over the most recent three months slumped by 10 per cent nationally when compared to the same period last year. The January-March numbers from Cordell show New South Wales up by 12 per cent but all other states down: Western Australia and Queensland down by 12 per cent, Victoria down by 28 per cent, and South Australia down by 38 per cent.

Salt mining at Dampier Western Australia, showing the salt ponds to help water evaporate.

Supply chain

Pool salt shortage continues

Year old new Increased demand multiplies supply Year issues 8000

The impact on the supply chain is doubling down on the increased demand 7000 due to the unprecedented wet weather on the east coast of Australia.

6000 Many pool shops are having issues sourcing pool salt and are having 5000 to supply chlorine as a temporary replacement during these times, as 4000 many thousands of pools battle to come back from the impact of flooding 3000 and excessive rain.

Olsson’s Salt 2000 CEO David Dwyer says they are having trouble keeping up.

1000 “We’re manufacturing at 100-per-cent capacity, it’s just that the de0 he told the ABC, adding that the biggest concentration mand is massive,” NSW VIC QLD WA SA Feb Mar of swimming pools affected were between Bundaberg and Newcastle.”

Of Australia’s 1.2 million pools, about 850,000 are in New South Wales and Queensland, and approximately 70 per cent are salt chlorinated.

SPASA Australia CEO Lindsay McGrath says that the explosion in demand for pools during the covid-19 pandemic has put even more pressure on demand for salt and other pool chemicals, even prior to this weather event.

Yearly comparison by month

Year old

Year new 8000

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6000 5000

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3000 2000

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Apr May Jun

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

Year old

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Yearly comparison by State

Peter Newton, general manager of Cheetham Salt, one of the biggest suppliers of pool salt to the market, says he cannot determine when the current shortage of pool salt in the eastern states of Australia will end.

“Like many other manufacturers Cheetham Salt has experienced a range of supply chain challenges in recent months that have impacted supply,” says Newton.

“Major pallet shortages nationally, floods in Queensland and New South Wales, and reduced truck driver availability have all impacted our supply chain. In addition, we have been impacted by localised flooding in South Australia at one of our manufacturing sites.”

He says other factors include labour shortages due to the low unemployment level and covid absenteeism, which have impacted output at their factories and further compromised the supply of pool salt.

“The ongoing La Nina weather pattern along with recent flooding on the east coast of Australia has resulted in exceptionally high demand for pool salt this season,” he says.

“Based on the long-range weather forecast we anticipated that the 2021/2022 season would be strong, and built a significant inventory position of finished product Year prior to the start of the season.

This ensured old Year new 2500 good supply of Cheetham pool salt early in the season, but as we entered 2022 the exceptionally high demand combined with the covid-related 2000 supply challenges has resulted in the pool salt shortage.”

He adds that the current weather system is not having a significant 1500 impact on salt production at their sites – that is, the actual growing of salt – and that the supply1000 situation is slowly improving.

“However it is very difficult to predict when it will end.”

500salt market is a very important sector for Cheetham He adds that the pool Salt and he apologises for the delays their customers are experiencing.

0 Apr salt May performs Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan “We understand that pool an important function, and Feb we are striving to satisfy the market demand as quickly as possible.”

0

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NSW

VIC

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Three-monthly comparison

new

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QLD

WA

SA

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While these figures give an indication of the way the market is trending, they are not comprehensive and don’t include all pools built or even all DAs lodged. By some estimates, the total national numbers including all types of pools could be almost double these figures. They do not include pool projects that are approved as part of a new home, smaller projects under the cost threshold, renovations that don’t require a DA, or some aboveground pools. Additionally, not all councils are forthcoming with data or report on time; councils in some states such as Queensland and Victoria are particularly reluctant. For further information, call Cordell Information on 1800 80 60 60.

April/May 2022 SPLASH! 13

news

Expos

Olympic Champion swimmer Brooke Hanson to open SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show Olympic champion swimmer Brooke Hanson will be the keynote speaker at the Grand Opening of the SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show from 9am on Wednesday June 22, 2022.

She is a well-regarded energetic and motivating speaker, and will be an exciting start to the SPLASH! expo. Hanson will also be the keynote for the WAVES breakfast event for the women of industry.

The importance of “the journey” Hanson is an Olympic gold and silver medallist, and she remains one of Australia’s most recognised Olympians. She will give an insight into her remarkable journey to Olympic victory and how she has implemented her learnings into life beyond the pool. She finds happiness and faces every difficulty with a smile and looks forward to sharing her inspirational story, and the keys to her individual and team success, by encouraging self-belief and accountability.

Inspiring people through her story of resilience, determination and her positive outlook after much heartache is motivating. She will focus on the importance of resilience, adversity, success, motivation, happiness and well-being.

As well as her Olympic journey, Hanson will discuss the importance of mindfulness, exercise, mental health and energy management and the incredible impact they have on people mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically.

Come ready for an energised opening session as Hanson inspires you to think about the changes you can implement to achieve personal excellence both professionally and personally.

Her outcome for the opening address is to empower individuals and businesses to achieve personal and team greatness by inspiring you to live a purpose-driven life

Striving for excellence while striving for balance Hanson has built a successful business as an inspirational speaker, media consultant, energy management coach, mentor and facilitator, as well as TV and radio presenter. Her journey as a career woman while raising a family and running her own business has given her a true understanding on the pressure women face. She looks forward to encouraging the audience to make “WAVES” by striving for vision, excellence and celebrating success along the way.

Hanson will share the keys to energy management and the importance of self-love and care while striving for a better balance; providing tips for juggling the daily pressures of the full workload and expectations on women to be wonder women; and share how she copes

Keep informed by subscribing to the free online newsletter.

Salt runs dry as impact of flooding hits The devastating floods in Queensland and New South Wales have exacerbated the shortage of pool salt, leaving many consumers to turn to alternatives.

14

SPLASH!

April/May 2022

Brooke Hanson with the fast-paced life as an active mum.

She will break down “busyness” and why women in particular wear it like a badge of honour. “I’m not giving you an Olympic gold medal because your busier than me!”

She analyses the external and internal pressures women are feeling and the added strain it puts on every aspect of life and how you can find “YOU” again.

The life lessons, compassion and personal growth Hanson has learnt through her journey gives her an opportunity to share the tools she has gained that have resulted in successful outcomes in every aspect of her life.

Embracing what’s important through passion, purpose, love, leadership and finding internal strength to persevere in the face of your biggest challenges. Hanson looks forward to empowering a room full of women during an interactive session, enjoying a hot breakfast without racing out the door!

Register at www.splashexpo.com.au.

Top five online news stories

The online stories that made the news over the past two months.

Pool salt shortage continues on Australian east coast Australian pool salt suppliers said there were a number of causes for the current shortage, but they can’t determine exactly when it will be over.

SPASA WA calls in police to investigate financial discrepancies WA Police were investigating a number of alleged discrepancies in the association’s financial records over a period of almost seven years from 2014.

How to clean swimming pools after storms and floods Helpful advice from industry experts on how to clean up and treat swimming pools after storms and floods.

Melbourne Pool & Spa Lifestyle Expo success proves consumers are ready to buy Consumers were keen to get out and were eager to buy swimming pools, spas and associated equipment.

news

Upcoming events 2022 May 10-12

DesignBuild, MCEC, Melbourne

May 14-15

Pool & Spa Lifestyle Expo NSW

May 28-29

Pool & Spa Lifestyle Expo Queensland

June 16-17 Fitness and Wellness Australia, ICC Sydney June 21-23 Australian Swim Schools Association National Conference, Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre (SPLASH! Week Event) June 22-23 SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show, Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre July 1 & 2

Awards Gala SA & NT (Virtual & Actual)

July 2

SPASA WA Awards Gala

July 9-10

Spa & Pool Show + Backyard & Garden Show, Melbourne

July 15 & 16 Awards Gala Vic & Tas (Virtual & Actual) July 22 & 23 Awards Gala Qld (Virtual & Actual) Jul 23-24

Pool & Spa Lifestyle Expo SA

July 29 & 30 Awards Gala NSW & ACT (Virtual & Actual) Aug 5-7

Pool & Spa Lifestyle Expo NZ

Aug 12

Awards Gala NZ (Virtual & Actual)

Aug 22-26

NZ Recreations Waves 2022

Sep 2

National Awards of Excellence Gala (Virtual & Actual)

Sep 17-20

ASCTA Con 22, SeaWorld, Gold Coast

Sep 28-30

Japan Build, Osaka

Oct 25-28

Interbad, Germany

Nov 15-18

Piscine Global Expo, Lyon, France

Nov 29-30

Piscina22, Rimini, Italy

More details at splashmagazine.com.au. Dates are subject to change and should be checked with the relevant organisation.

Send calendar submissions to info@splashmagazine.com.au.

www.waterco.com April/May 2022 SPLASH! 15

news

Industry moves

Daisy appoints strategic account manager Daisy Pool Covers has appointed Ben Coyne as its new strategic account manager.

Managing director Derek Prince says that over the past five years Daisy has experienced sustained growth and development across their full range of covers and rollers.

“As the marketplace becomes more competitive and we continue to focus on product innovation, Daisy is excited to announce the recruitment of a strategic accounts manager.

“Industry professional Ben Coyne has been appointed to the role and will work closely with the sales team.”

His key focus will be on helping Daisy grow and assist the national network.

Coyne had previously held management positions at Davey and LaMotte Pacific as well as other organisations outside the pool industry.

“Ben comes to Daisy from a rich Ben Coyne and successful industry career, and is keen to launch into his new role.

Ben brings with him some fantastic industry knowledge and an obvious passion for what we do. This enthusiasm and experience will no doubt be invaluable when it comes to helping drive our customers’ success, above and beyond current levels.”

Contact: 0488 553 668; ben@daisypoolcovers.com.au

Helping out with Variety

Meanwhile, Daisy Pool Covers has brought together members of the pool industry, together with Variety – the Children’s Charity WA, to aid a young boy who had faced many challenges since his birth. The combined forces of Variety WA, Factory Pools Perth, Bonita Stone, Scapes Unlimited and Green Star solutions came together with Daisy Pool Covers to help the young boy, Tyler. This meant a new backyard pool that would allow him to easily access much-needed aquatic therapy to manage his condition.

Tyler’s family extend their appreciation to all involved, knowing that this will bring a significant and positive change to his life.

Go to www.splashmagazine.com.au/videos to learn more.

Tyler enjoying his new pool

Community

Pool industry rallying for charity

The Shitbox Rally course

Tony Rodda of Allan’s Pool Shop in Cairns (winner of the 2020 Business of the Year at the SPASA National Awards) is organising a team for the Shitbox Rally 2022 Autumn, held May 7 to May 13, travelling from Wollongong to Mackay via Tibooburra.

Rodda is organising a car representing the pool industry to participate in the rally to raise money for cancer research. Tony’s brother Nick will be driving the “Goldmember” car from Wollongong to Mackay and back.

The Shitbox Rally is not a race, rather a challenge to achieve the unthinkable – to drive cars worth just no more than $1000

across Australia via 7000 kilometres of the country’s most formidable roads, all in the name of charity.

Goldmember is a 90s Mercedes sedan with more than 400,000 kilometres on the clock.

The funds raised are for cancer research and all funds go directly to the Cancer Council.

Lo-chlor Chemicals and Hayward Industries are two of the industry organisations who have put their hands up to sponsor Goldmember.

Organisations or individuals interested in sponsoring this worthwhile event can go to https://autumn2022.shitboxrally.com.au/ goldmember.

Associations

SPASA WA celebrates its 25th anniversary In February SPASA WA celebrated its 25th birthday with a party at the Old Pickle Factory in West Perth, which members attended for free.

The photo here shows some past presidents and, interestingly, among the past presidents are two sets of fathers and daughters!

(L-R) Tony Sinagara, Lou Beale, Mark Harper, Lynley Papineau, Sadie Davidson (executive officer), Cal Stanley, Allan Ivemy, Liz Hollingdale 16

SPLASH!

April/May 2022

www.remco.com.au

news

Recall

Spa Quip 800 and 1200 spa controllers recalled Davey Water Products Pty Ltd is voluntarily recalling its Spa Quip 800 and 1200 model controllers. The impacted controllers were sold in Australia through pool and spa retailers, spa builders and spa service providers from 2005 to 2008 and used in small to medium-sized spas and swim-spas.

Which models are affected?

Only the following 800 and 1200 models of the Spa Quip controllers are affected: Q800-30; Q800-30LAN; Q800-30R Q1200-35; Q1200-35R; Q1200-45; Q1200-45R; Q1200-60 This recall only impacts Spa Quip controllers manufactured before February 2008 identified by serial numbers as described in the Product Recall Notice. This does not impact any Davey branded controllers. Davey’s last sale of the controllers was mid 2008 indicating they may be present in spas manufactured or repaired between 2005 and 2009. Given their ~ 10-year lifespan, any Spa Quip controller from this period may have already been replaced. Nevertheless, out of an abundance of caution, and to uphold its high standards of safety and quality, Davey has initiated this recall.

Why is Davey taking action?

The controller has a flexible socket which means it is possible for an AMP plug to be forcibly connected to the controller upside-down.

This may cause the plugged-in device or parts touching the plugged-in device to become live.

This creates the risk of electric shock which can cause serious injury or death. There has been a single fatality associated with this product where a spa owner was working on a spa which was not fitted with a residual current device and which was not properly earthed.

What action is being taken?

Davey has set up a fast and free remediation service for the affected products. This involves, for all consumers who present in respect of the recall, replacement with an equivalent Davey controller. The removal, replacement and installation of the controller will be undertaken

by Davey (or its Qualified Service Partners who are qualified to install the device). The costs for this remediation service will be borne by Davey.

For more information: www.daveywater.com/ au/spa-quip-safety-recall Email: SpaQuiprecall@davey.com.au Phone: 1300 232 839 extension 9

Recall

Aristo Glass pool fence latch recalled Aristo Glass Products Pty Ltd’s glass pool fence latch has been recalled.

PRA number: 2022/19419 Published date: 12 Apr 2022 Product description: Polymer plastic glass gate latch part with ‘A’ logo and guide tabs SLP2011 – 180° Glass to Glass Latch SLP2012 – Glass to Wall Latch SLP2013 – 90° Outswing Glass to Glass Latch SLP2014 – 90° Inswing Glass to Glass Latch SLP2015 – Glass to Round Post Latch SLP2007 – 135° Glass to Glass Latch

What are the defects?

The gate latch guide tabs may break, stopping the engagement pin from retracting and connecting securely with the magnetic keeper. This will result in the gate not closing properly.

What are the hazards?

If the gate latch is not closed correctly and the gate remains unlatched, it may not prevent unsupervised access to the pool or spa area posing a risk of drowning.

What should consumers do?

Consumers should ensure the gate is secured until a replacement latch has been installed.

Consumers should contact Aristo Glass Products Pty Ltd on 08 9418 8914 or email admin@ aristogroup.com.au for a replacement latch.

Supplier: Aristo Glass Products Pty Ltd Traders who sold this product: Glass fencing retailers and installers Where the product was sold: Western Australia Dates available for sale: 1 Aug 2021 - 3 Mar 2022

Polymer plastic glass gate latch part with ‘A’ logo and guide tabs 18

SPLASH!

December 2021/January 2022

Spa Quip 800 Controller

Spa Quip 1200 Controller Meanwhile, SPASA Australia is developing a Prefabricated Spa Pool Compliance Guide for Industry, which will be published in the coming weeks after extensive industry consultation.

Standards

Australian Standards review accepted for AS2783 Standards Australia have formally confirmed that SPASA Australia’s project proposal to revise AS2783 Use of reinforced concrete for small swimming pools has been accepted and commencement of the review will begin shortly.

SPASA Australia, through its Concrete Pool Advisory Group, has been working on improving the 30-year-old Australian Standard for the past two years.

Spiros Dassakis, SPASA COO, says the importance of revising AS2783 is that it will provide more accurate technical guidance while exploring new and emerging products, technologies and methodologies being developed and used in practice.

“The pending revision of AS2783 ensures that concrete pool builders across Australia will have access to a technically up-to-date standard for the first time in three decades. This standard follows SPASA Australia’s recent 2021 efforts in spearheading the now published fibreglass manufacturing and installation standards.”

The next step is that a project commencement date will be set for the revision of AS2783.

“SPASA Australia would like to thank members of the SPASA Australia Concrete Pool Advisory Working Group and collaborators for their time, effort, and valuable support to revise this very important Australian Standard,” says Dassakis.

Contact: spiros@spasa.com.au

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Trades

The EvoHeat team Industry moves

EvoHeat staff raise $18,000 for Lismore flood relief EvoHeat recently held their annual staff conference at the Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Gold Coast.

EvoHeat employees from all over the country came together for the two-day event that has become an essential part of the business’s team building, training and future planning strategy.

During the event, EvoHeat staff raised just over $18,000 from their team to be donated to the St Vincents Flood Appeal, to help support those most impacted by the recent floods in Queensland and the Northern Rivers.

In addition to the money raised, EvoHeat staff are providing donations of furniture and household items to help the people of the Lismore region, after a personal friend of EvoHeat lost their entire home and contents. A delivery of furniture and bedding will to be driven down to Lismore in the EvoHeat company truck.

EvoHeat are also offering a discount on their Evo270-1 hot water heat pumps for flood affected homes within the region.

For links for flood relief donations: www.splashmagazine.com.au/QuickLinks141

Joshua Hellema Meanwhile, EvoHeat announced the newest member of their team, Joshua Hellema.

Hellema brings with him almost 20 years of experience in the pool industry and will be looking after Victorian and Tasmanian pool heating enquiries.

A father of six and a loyal Hawthorn supporter, Hellema loves running and playing golf. He is also passionate about the charity he supports and actively involved in – Southern Cross Kids Camps.

“I am very excited to have this fantastic opportunity to be part of the Evo Heat team,” says Hellema.

“I’m really looking forward to meeting all our Victorian and Tasmanian customers and assisting them in their dealings with Josh Hellema EvoHeat.”

Awards

Skills shortages worsen as Australia’s working age population shrinks “The population of Australians aged between 15 and 64 has fallen since covid,” says Nick Ward, senior economist at the Housing Industry Association (HIA).

Recent ABS data shows the estimated resident population in all states and territories, a compilation of the natural rate of population growth, overseas migration and interstate migration.

“Migrants to Australia are typically younger than existing residents,” says Ward. “With the restriction on new arrivals, the number of working age Australians has fallen by around 83,500 people in 2020/21 financial year.

“This is continuing to make it increasingly difficult for businesses to find skilled workers.

The loss of young migrants also accelerates population aging, adding pressure to government budgets over the long term.

“Australia’s population growth remains at the lowest it has been in over 100 years, with growth of just 0.18 per cent over the past year. In 2018/19, Australia’s net migration was around 241,300 people. In 2020/21, Australia lost around 88,800 migrants in net terms.

“A return to stable and reliable skilled migration pathways is central to a return to stable economic growth,” says Ward.

Brill named among top franchise execs

Nic Brill

Poolwerx’ Nic Brill has gained a place as one of Australia’s Top 30 Franchise Executives for 2022 at the Inside Franchise Business Executive Awards.

The awards recognise individuals who make an exceptional contribution to Australia’s franchising industry across a range of categories, including technical, brand, retail, mobile, B2B and innovation excellence.

The Poolwerx chief operating officer was recognised for his outstanding commitment to franchise partners

and the broader franchising industry.

Expert judges were faced with a record number of entries to review, with submissions from C-suite executives and franchise professionals in roles across marketing, HR, training and operations.

Brill’s ability to innovate and quickly pivot service options throughout the pandemic, while harnessing the brand’s values, resulted in exceptional growth for partners.

“It’s an honour for myself, as an extension of Poolwerx, to be recog-

nised for our continuous development of our award-winning franchising program,” Brill says.

“I’m privileged to work alongside our incredible franchise partners who have faced challenges over the past 12 months with resilience, and the drive to succeed.

“We’ll continue to expand and diversify our franchise program, so we can better assist our partners as they grow their footprint. We’ve shown the appetite and expertise to go beyond the pool servicing model.”

In Brief Latham, designer, manufacturer, and marketer of in-ground residential swimming pools in North America, Australia and New Zealand, announced the appointment of Sanjeev Bahlas chief operating officer, an accomplished operations executive with more than 20 years’ experience in global supply chain and procurement. Bahl will lead Latham’s Global operations organisation, overseeing all manufacturing, supply chain, EHS, quality and engineering.

US-based pool industry training organisation Genesis has launched a concierge program to foster professional development among its students. Through this service, students will be guided in finding the education best suited for their career goals, while companies will be offered opportunities to build personalised curriculum for their teams through the Knowledge by Design program. “This year, we have already experienced record growth, with 250 professionals educated in January alone,” says Genesis co-founder and ambassador Brian Van Bower.

Members of the swimming pool and spa industry have been subjected to phone scammers. The scammers are calling pool and spa businesses pretending to be clients and updating bank account details. This had led to businesses paying their bills to the scammers. It is best to confirm directly via phone with the client, should someone contact you to change bank account details.

April/May 2022 SPLASH! 21

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feature

“Let’s hope that 2022 is brighter for one and all.”

A growth year coming to the land of the long white cloud

S

PASA New Zealand general manager Jonty Mills has shared some positives he sees on the horizon in what he expects will be a big year for the New Zealand industry.

“It’s fair to say we’ve been behind our antipodean cousins in relation to the covid curve,” says Mills. “But there’s cause for optimism as restrictions continue to be eased and borders start to open.”

As with many industries on both sides of the Tasman, adaptability, resilience and embracing new approaches have been hallmarks of the pool and spa industry.

“I’ve seen it in bucketloads,” says Mills.

“The pool and spa industry in New Zealand is juggling both opportunity and challenge, which is a fine balancing act of growing a business and managing customer expectations.

“While we’ve got unprecedented demand for our products and services, we’ve also got all the supply chain and logistical challenges, similar to many industries.”

He says that the SPASA team hasn’t been sitting idle by any stretch of the imagination, and that 2022 is shaping up to be a bumper year in New Zealand as SPASA prepares to roll out more products and services in its quest to grow, promote and protect the industry.

Mills outlines the many positive developments on the horizon.

“While we’ve got unprecedented demand for our products and services, we’ve also got all the supply chain and logistical challenges, similar to many industries.”

Industry qualifications

The announcement of new industry qualifications has been eagerly awaited by the New Zealand industry.

There is now a timeline: • Certificate III in Pool and Spa Service – anticipated launch mid-May 2022 • Certificate IV in Pool Building – anticipated launch from September 2022 “It’s a process for sure, and the time, cost and effort taken to bring these to fruition is not to be underestimated. A shout out to SPASA’s Institute of Research and Learning CEO Spiros Dassakis who has been the driving force behind this project for several years,” Mills says.

In a first for the local industry, these certificates are recognised qualifications offered by SPASA New Zealand, having attained NZQA micro-credential equivalency. This means the courses have been assessed against the NZ Quality Framework and accepted as micro-credentials.

“While covid-19 has severely hampered the delivery of face-to-face workshops over the last year, SPASA continues to offer online options which is at least something,” he says.

“All things being equal, face-to-face workshops are scheduled to resume in August.”

Advocacy

On the advocacy front, the Minster of Building and Construction approved a review of the building consent system in December 2021. A system which is causing the industry great angst, particularly in relation to F9 – restricting Access to Residential Pools and F4 – Safety from Falling.

April/May 2022 SPLASH! 23

feature

Mills says SPASA has been at the table with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

SPASA New Zealand will be consulting with industry and submitting all the issues relating to the pool and spa industry, in what Mills considers a positive move forward in getting their views and issues heard and considered.

Standards

Across Australia and New Zealand SPASA sits on more than 50 standards committees. Below are five where there is current activity for New Zealand.

• AS 1838 2021 Swimming Pools – premoulded fibre reinforced plastics design and fabrication • AS 1839 2021 Swimming Pools – premoulded fibre reinforced plastics installation • NZS 8500 Safety Barriers and Fences around Swimming Pools, Spas and Hot Tubs • NZS 4441 Swimming Pool Design Standard • NZS 5826 Pool Water Quality Mills says that while this work is not the most glamourous, it is very important activity for industry. If relevant Standards are updated as proposed, New Zealand manufacturers and consumers will directly benefit by being able to rely on up-to-date Standards that are current and include the provision for newer technologies, materials, design and installation considerations that will result in improved longer lasting pool structures.

“Our approach is for industry, by industry,” says Mills.

“Typically, we’ll establish a New Zealand committee of industry participants to review the newly revised standards and make recommendations for use by the New Zealand pool and spa industry, followed by submission to Standards NZ for adoption.”

New benefits

Mills says that SPASA New Zealand is always looking to form new industry relevant partnerships where value to members can be generated. Recently, two new partnerships have been extended to New Zealand SPASA members.

Sales Management – Pool Site Quote (PSQ) PSQ is the worlds’ first sales software specifically developed for pool and spa builder sales teams, providing integrated CRM, design, quote, gallery and document management capabilities. PSQ is a great tool which saves members time and effort during the pool sales process.

EAP Provider – Uprise Uprise is an award-winning full-spectrum mental health tech company that builds both preventative and treatment solutions. Their mission is to provide scientifically proven skills to help people to look after their own mental health and to make it simple to access a therapist.

New Zealand Builders Contract – launching soon In a first for industry in New Zealand, SPASA has developed a building, installation and renovation contract. This has been modelled on the highly successful Australian version but created with the assistance of a local and specialised construction legal firm. The New Zealand contract is designed with the builder in mind to: 24

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April/May 2022

One of SPASA NZ’s many workshops held over the past year

• • • •

Provide them with greater protection Mitigate potential risk Set clear expectations for the consumer Promote best industry practice and professionalism “It’s just getting the final ‘once over’ from the lawyers and will be available for all members very soon.”

Three extravaganzas coming up

June 22-23: SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show is back – the largest pool and spa trade show in the southern hemisphere. Held at Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

“After the past couple of years, there are plenty of Kiwis eager to cross the ditch and get some of that Queensland sun on their backs for sure! There will some kind of organised gathering specifically for the Kiwi contingent so watch this space.

“Let’s hope that 2022 is brighter for one and all. The wheels of industry will keep turning and SPASA will keep oiling those wheels to ensure that we continue to grow, promote and protect this fantastic industry in the most efficient and effective way we can.”

August 5-7: NZ Pool & Spa Lifestyle Expo – turning your dream backyard into reality. Held at Auckland Showgrounds.

August 12: SPASA NZ Industry Awards of Excellence – showcase your excellence and set yourself apart.

“For SPASA on both sides of the Tasman, there’s plenty on the horizon to look forward to and be positive about,” says Mills. n

“The industry has been waiting patiently for these qualifications.”

Happy participants at a training day held in Auckland

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feature

Customer relationship management more important than ever

By Brett Lloyd Abbott

W

hen I was in high-tech equipment sales (several decades ago), the management at our Fortune 500 company approached us “sales engineers” as we were called then, and introduced a brand-new customer relationship management (CRM) software system we were all required to start using.

At that time, we were selling complicated seven-figure to eight-figure projects that could take a year or more to close. There was certainly no room for carelessness, or lack of professionalism. Stepping up to more professional sales management system was a perfectly logical step.

However, this concept and software was totally foreign to us, so we all squirmed a little at the concept of having to use this weird-looking software to track our daily activities on the computer. We had all grown accustomed to using our Day Timers or notebooks or manila folders, or yellow stickies, or whatever each of us had individually chosen to use to track our sales opportunities and action items. So resistance to change was no surprise.

Fortunately, it only took a few days of using the system to get comfortable with it. And I soon discovered the fairly significant advantages of having all of my client and prospect information in one place. (For me personally, I was finally rid of that nagging guilty feeling of accidentally losing some critical information that I may have squirreled away on a sticky note somewhere.)

It also made it much easier to let management know what we were doing. I no longer had to create handwritten reports of my status, because the status of my opps, and my activity related to it, was right there in the CRM system, at their fingertips.

Fast forward 30 years, and virtually every medium to large sized business is using some sort of CRM. In fact, latest statistics from BuyerZone say that 91 per cent of all US businesses with 12 or more employees are using a CRM. Apparently, the pool industry didn’t get the memo.

In 2019, I reached out to about 100 US pool builders and asked them (1) “What CRM are you using?” and (2) “Are you happy with it?”

The responses floored me.

Shocker 1: The most popular CRM amongst all the builders I surveyed was “Pen & Paper.”

Shocker 2: The second most popular CRM amongst all the builders was “None.”

Shocker 3: The third most popular CRM amongst the builders (coming in at 11 per cent) was the Jandy ProEdge system. But that was primarily for the construction management platform. Most of the users admitted they weren’t too crazy about the sales CRM side of the platform, and had abandoned that.

Shocker 4: Of the 45 pool builders who were actively using a CRM, there were at least 23 different brands in use. Twenty-three!

Conclusions: Unlike pumps or filters or heaters or vinyl liners or interior finishes, or even distribution companies or buying groups, the pool industry has curiously not yet narrowed down to a typical list

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April/May 2022

of “top three providers” when it comes to sales CRMs. Or perhaps more to the point, the industry has obviously not yet figured out how powerful a sales CRM can be for their business.

So let’s review a few undeniable facts regarding the sales process for inground swimming pools: • There’s a lot of money at stake here. (We’re selling a product worth $50,000 to $500,000 or more.)

• It’s a fairly long buying cycle (typically several months or more) compared to buying groceries (a few minutes), or a new car (maybe a few weeks).

• Each sale is unique. (Even with pre-built fiberglass pool installations, every project is different.)

• There are a LOT of unique details to keep track of, including what they want, how big is the yard, what are the property setbacks, are there community issues, what features do they want, how many kids in the family, how are they planning to pay for it, what are the buyers’ personality styles, and so much more.

• And if you’re like most pool builders and/or designers, you’ve got way too many unique opportunities to keep track of.

Heck, I would even argue that selling a swimming pool is more complicated than selling a house (with the exception of all the ridiculous real estate paperwork, of course).

With so much money at stake, and so many variables in play, why wouldn’t you take advantage of a sales CRM? It’s actually quite easy to adopt (unless you get one of the expensive, complicated ones). You can then immediately begin to: • Track all of your opportunities “in the cloud,” which means they are accessible to you anywhere, and anytime.

• Segment your opportunities, so you can focus first on the hottest opportunities, and worry about the “future buyers” later.

• Set timers and reminders for specific tasks that need to be done, to keep that particular opportunity moving.

• Maintain that “personal touch,” even though much of your communications will now be automated.

• Close deals faster, because you can respond more quickly through the CRM system, whether that’s with email, voicemail or text.

• Maintain the relationship after the sale, which is perfect if you’d like to upsell maintenance contracts or any other services after the pool is finished.

A sales CRM is the perfect tool for any business trying to sell inground pools in this crazy post-pandemic time. If you don’t have one, get one soon, because your competitors are likely to do the same. n These articles by Pool Builder Marketing’s Brett Lloyd Abbott’s are designed to provide pool companies with unique insights that will help them address modern marketplace challenges.

Contact: www.poolbuildermarketing.com

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What is water?

“It may come as a surprise to some that you can’t suck water. You can push water, but you cannot pull it.”

By Cal Stanley

T

his is the first of a series of articles about water.

That stuff that comes out of the tap and also seems to be in every swimming pool. The good ones anyway.

Both humanity and the swimming pool industry are totally reliant on water. Without it neither humans, animals nor swimming pools would exist. So I thought it may be worthwhile to investigate this substance that we can’t do without.

Water is a precise mixture of hydrogen and oxygen known as H2O. One molecule of water has two hydrogen atoms bonded to one atom of oxygen.

Each water molecule’s hydrogen atoms, being positively charged, bond with the negatively charged oxygen atom of another molecule and vice versa. Thus, there are a number of connectivity bonds between these molecules. This is also what causes surface tension and capillary action.

Most substances on our planet exist in solid, liquid or vapour form. Water is one of those very rare substances that exists in all three forms, as ice, water and water vapour.

Where is all of our water?

• Water covers 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface; • 97 per cent of water is found in the oceans and seas of our planet; • 2 per cent is stored in the polar ice caps; • 0.6 per cent is found in the earth’s rivers and lakes; and • 0.4 per cent is underground.

That’s the water you can see, find, and feel. Not forgetting that water also forms about 75 per cent to 80 per cent of every human and animal body on the earth.

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April/May 2022

Throw in a handful of earth and about 12 kg of carbon and look what you get. A human body!

Doesn’t sound like much does it, but consider what we all get from it. That’s right, no water would mean no life.

Worse still, no life would mean no swimming pools!

Relative density

All substances on Earth have a relative density (RD) and they are all in relation to a base mark of 1.0, which happens to be the relative density of fresh clean water at 40C. Another term for relative density is specific gravity.

The actual density of fresh water varies with its temperature, but the variation is small and not relevant for most purposes.

Any article or substance with a density less than 1.0 will float on water, and anything with a density more than 1.0 will sink in water.

Some common densities: Water Sea Water Air (at sea level) Hydrochloric Acid Crude oil Petrol Mercury Beer PVC pipes Balsa wood Ebony Eucalyptus (wandoo)

1.000 1.025 0.00145 1.200 0.918 0.739 13.633 1.040 1.400 0.170 1.120 1.140

opinion

Characteristics Incompressible Water is said to be incompressible but actually with a pressure of 40 mPa it will compress about 1.9 per cent. This little bit of compression is responsible for the phenomena known as “water hammer” in pipes.

Specific heat Water has the highest specific heat of all common matter. This means that it takes more time and more energy to heat up, and a longer time to cool down, when compared to other substances.

Why does ice float Because water is the only substance that is less dense in its solid state than its liquid state – ice is about nine per cent less dense than water.

Ice is never salty As the ocean gets close to its freezing point of -1.80C, its salt content sinks away from the surface.

Water and electricity Pure water does not conduct electricity. But as soon as any substance that ionises in water is added it becomes a very good conductor. No water, even in its natural state, is completely pure and we add so many chemicals to pool water that it’s no wonder that water and its electricity must be kept well apart.

Water – the universal solvent Water will dissolve most substances given time and motion. The science of how it does this is beyond the scope of this article and ordinary people.

Water is miscible Miscible means that water mixes easily and well with many substances, particularly other liquids and chemicals. It is not, however miscible with fats, oils, and air.

Water cannot be sucked It may come as a surprise to some that you can’t suck water. You can push water, but you cannot pull it. In this respect it is just like air – you can’t suck that either. In the absence of a push by a pump, your hand or some other implement, water can only be moved by gravity – downhill or by air pressure in other directions.

When you breath in you don’t suck in air, your muscles expand your chest cavity and lungs creating a space into which air rushes under pressure. When you do the same thing with your mouth over a straw with the other end in a glass of water, the air pressure pushing on the surface of the glass forces the air in the straw into your chest followed by the water into your mouth – where it goes from there is up to you, but you will know all about it if you let it follow the air.

Water and pressure Solids will exert pressure downwards. Liquids and gases exert pressure equally in all directions.

Why doesn’t moving water freeze The freezing point of moving water will depend on its velocity.

Slow moving water will freeze at a higher temperature than fast moving water.

The reason for this? Moving water creates friction and kinetic energy in the form of heat thus keeping the temperature above 0C. When moving water cools to 0C it begins to freeze.

My next article will explore force, pressure, boiling water, evaporation and suction. n For these articles Cal Stanley draws on his 30 years’ experience and success in pool construction, having run award-winning pool construction company Neptune Pools in Western Australia for three decades. He currently works as a pool consultant and delivers hydraulics courses for the swimming pool industry.

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April/May 2022 SPLASH! 29

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Northern Rivers floods: tales from the trenches Following the first round of levee-breaking floods in Lismore, SPLASH! spoke with some of the swimming pool and spa people affected, and some of those who went into the devastation to help. Here we have two stories, one from a pool shop owner in Lismore, and one from a pool construction contractor from Queensland who went down to help. These interviews were held not long after the first unprecedented flood. Sadly, within a month, a second powerful flood came through and undid much of the recovery work.

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“If we had six inches of water in the shop, it would have been fine.

But it was six metres!”

Above: The Poolwerx team salvaged what they could from the Lismore shop 30

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April/May 2022

ohn McAuley, Poolwerx franchise partner, has two stores, one at Lismore at the epicentre of the flood, and another at Lennox Head on the coast which was less affected by the weather. He also runs a servicing arm out of the Lennox store.

“We had been getting BOM warnings for the Lismore area for a couple of weeks,” he says. “We could see very heavy rain in Brisbane, but it didn’t seem to be budging south of the border. We’re about 100 kilometres south of the border.”

McAuley says that between Thursday February 24 and midday on Saturday February 26 they had very little rain. But on Saturday afternoon the rain started.

“I live in Byron Bay and I’d seen very minimal flooding there, so I felt a little removed from the whole thing until Sunday morning when one of our Lismore staff texted, ‘What are you going to do about the shop?’

“I headed over, and my wife came too so she could check out her workplace in Lismore. On the way we were listening to ABC local radio, and they were talking about sandbagging in Lismore.”

When they arrived, they noticed the shop across the road had sandbags out the front to keep the water out.

That prompted McAuley to raise goods and supplies higher in the shop.

“I put pumps up on the counter, and the printer and computer and expensive equipment. I had some robots, so I stacked them up on top of a pallet of salt. If we had six inches of water in the shop, it would have been fine. But it was six metres! It wouldn’t have mattered how high I put them, nothing would have saved them short of getting them out of the shop.”

No one had an inkling of how big the flood was going to be.

“The 1954 flood, the biggest one, was 12.17 metres. This one was two metres above that, 14.37 metres. They built a levee in 2005 but once it tops that, the water can’t get back out.”

McAuley says he wasn’t alone in underestimating the size of the flood, and that even long-time locals were caught off guard.

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“By the time I woke up on Monday morning, it was too late to do anything. One of our staff had been rescued at midnight from South Lismore but his mother and uncle stayed on and had to be rescued from the roof of the house.

“A friend of my son’s in Main Arm’s house slid down a hill, and he was buried up to his nostrils in mud. His mum is in hospital in an induced coma and he’s having pins put in his arms. There must be so many stories like that, but they don’t make it into the media,” he says.

Chemical smell

After the waters receded, the cleaning up began

“By Wednesday a staff member had been to the shop and taken photos, so the water had receded enough in two days for him to get in.

“By Friday I got over there but I wasn’t sure of the correct procedure – there was a strong smell of chemicals. I had trouble finding the correct authority to advise me so in the end I went to the Lismore Fire Station, and they said call 000 and get the hazmat team in.

“There were fire crews everywhere and they suggested we open the shop – it smelled like chloramines. A fireman went in with a gas meter and detected high levels of dangerous gases – LELs and others.

“Then the hazmat team turned up, dressed up like they were going into a nuclear reactor. By that time the door had been open for an hour and they didn’t detect anything, so we left the doors open all night and on Saturday we started the clear out.”

The Lismore shop has a lockup where they store chemicals and other supplies. The first thing they did was empty the lockup. They couldn’t gurney it because the whole CBD was without power, and they didn’t have access to a generator, so they hosed it out. They then used the lockup to store what could be salvaged.

“My Poolwerx BDM came down from Brisbane and I met with him at the shop. We had some help from Brisbane Poolwerx people, but they had their own problems. The head office went underwater, the Gympie shop went under, and Elanora had 40cm through it.”

They hosed off a lot of the waterproof chemical containers and salvaged them.

Meanwhile, the Lennox Head store was still operating, and there was a great run on chemicals, in particular flocculant, chlorine and salt.

“Someone came into the Lennox shop and said, ‘Gee,

all this rain must be good for business.’ I said, ‘It’s good for Lennox but not for Lismore.’ He wasn’t meaning to be insensitive. He didn’t know I had a shop in Lismore.

But certainly there was a big rush on supplies.”

The insurance assessors hadn’t been able to give them a date but had been very clear they can get on as long as they’ve documented, photographed and videoed the store before and after.

“I think they’ll be reasonable and come to the party,” he says.

The next step is the fit-out and the process of getting power connected, getting quotes, and working out whether to do a pop-up store a few hours each afternoon out of the lockup.

“Then we can do water testing and if we get the power on, eftpos, or maybe cash only. How long this will be for I don’t know, several months perhaps.

“Poolwerx were hopeful this might be about an eight-week turnover, but now that they’ve seen the extent of it, my feeling is it will be significantly longer, as there’ll be delays with assessors and there’s also tradie shortages.”

Desolation

McAuley went into Mullumbimby and found that a week after the flood there were piles of rubbish at the front of houses, and landslips had trapped people out of town, but the centre of Mullum was still alive.

“But Lismore is just streets and streets of desolation – you don’t know when the shops will reopen – next year some are saying, others say they’ll never go back.

The insurance premiums are impossible.

“I’m not feeling sorry for myself – a shop of chemicals and pumps has no sentimental value – it’s had an emotional strain on the family and a financial strain – but you can’t compare it to losing your home and your memories and family members. Poolwerx have been fantastic in providing moral and financial as well as physical support.

“I’ve still got an income with the second shop even though it creates its own problems and extra work. We lost communication in Lennox Head – the internet and phone lines and mobiles all over the north coast have been down.”

They had no communication for a week – all water testing had to be done manually, scheduling and pool apps didn’t work. Also, a lot of his staff were flooded in, or the roads were blocked, so a 30-minute trip took one-and-a-half hours.

On top of that, diesel dried up.

“I had one staff member who said, ‘I can come in Thursday or Friday, but I can’t do both – I don’t have enough diesel’. There’s all these little issues that add up to create difficulty.

“If I only had the Lismore shop I’d be focusing on cleaning and assessing the building. The second shop has been a lifeline because it’s kept income coming in, but it also added an extra layer of stress.”

Salt and competition

“We have had trouble getting salt. There were big problems around Christmas time with Poolwerx’ usual supplier from Far North Queensland. There was a cyclone up there that delayed the drying of the salt. Then the Bruce Highway got washed away, then there was April/May 2022 SPLASH! 31

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Hub2484 set up in the Spangled Drongo brewery.

Images by Maddie Jones.

Insta: madeleinebjones; email: madeleine.b.jones. gmail.com.

The roads were washed away by Rowlands Creek and the volunteers had to trek in through the flood.

Image by Maddie Jones

the usual Christmas delay with freight, then covid, then the border issue! Poolwerx in their wisdom managed to secure supply through South Australia – they’ve pretty much guaranteed supply to Poolwerx.

“But we only have a limited storage area at Lennox.

So we are bringing down pallets of salt from Brisbane and the freight company stores them for us – then we get two or three pallets at a time at Lennox Head.”

He says that as their competitors still didn’t have salt, they were getting more people coming in asking for it.

“And they’re buying up to ten bags, not one. At Kyogle, one of the worst affected towns, one of my techs took 20 bags for one pool. Six pools and you can use up a pallet!”

He went through 11 pallets of salt in one week.

“It’s obviously not just me who’s having problems.

There’s a competitor pool shop in Lismore, and I saw him doing the same thing as me, emptying his shop out and dropping the stuff out the front.

“He’s been there 25 years but we’d never spoken before, and I thought if now’s not a good time to get to know someone there never will be one.

“He’s got a mezzanine that was built to use during floods. He got word at nine o’clock on Sunday night, and then moved everything up on the mezzanine level to protect it. And the mezzanine went two metres under water. There was nothing he could have done.”

Even the council depots went underwater, causing havoc for cleaning and recovery. They don’t even have a whipper snipper they can use.

“Kevin Hogan the local member said that after the

1954 floods no-one built their houses less than 12 metres above the river, and now between 4000 and 5000 houses have flooded for the first time ever.

“The 1974 level is in line with the top of the Give Way sign across the road from the shop, and this flood was 2.2 metres above that. I think they’ve inspected 6000 homes and condemned about 2000.”

McAuley says a lot of unhelpful and insensitive things have been said about people living on the floodplains.

“A lot of the people who live on the floodplains live there because they can’t afford anywhere else, and they can’t afford the insurance either.”

McAuley has four sons, two of whom live in Ballina, another flood affected town, one in Sydney and one in Melbourne.

“My out-of-town sons flew up here. They went to school here and have friends up here and want to help.

Each of them turned up with a suitcase full of disinfectant, masks, gloves and cleaning products and have gone out to various towns to help. The two Ballina boys have done the same. That’s the way the community is around here.

“We’ll get through this because we have to. It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself, but in two months or three months or six months we’ll look back and we will be a long way on our way.”

The second wave

Sadly, one month later, the floods came back. Although not at the record-breaking height of the February flood, the March one still breached the levee. It brought new damage and also affected recovery efforts, sapping the optimism of many townsfolk.

McAuley cleaned everything out of the shop and the lockup up and moved some supplies to another premises up the road owned by the same landlady, so they could take the walls out of the pool shop and let it dry.

“I went over to the shop on Saturday after the second flood,” he says.

“Even though only a metre had gone through, the damage was very different. There were doors and windows smashed, and the roller doors had buckled. A lot of the stock I’d salvaged and washed had all be covered in mud again.”

He bought some plywood and boarded the doors up.

When SPLASH! spoke with him he still had to get back and hose the shop down, but couldn’t predict a timeline regarding the pop-up shop, or getting the retail premises back up and running.

“It’s a bit too much to think about at the moment,” he said.

Crossing the border to help

Tora Waldren is a carpenter for Gold Coast pool builder Total Concept Pools.

She was originally from Lennox and lived in Lismore from the age of 6 to 8 years old, so the Northern Rivers was a second home to her. Waldren went down to help during the floods with a couple of others, but couldn’t get further south than Murwillumbah because the roads were inaccessible.

She had some friends who run the Spangled Drongo, a brewery and skate destination in Murwillumbah, and they had set up an evacuation hub from their site called Hub2484.

April/May 2022 SPLASH! 33

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Tom Cornish (left) cofounder of Hub2484 with musician Ziggy Alberts.

The other co-founders are Soraya Quaine and Steven Murphy.

Image by Maddie Jones

“We packed up a 4WD and headed out into some of the places where we knew people wouldn’t be getting supplies,” Waldren says.

“We got as far as a road that dropped away at Byrrill Creek, and the crossing had been completely washed away and the locals had put down some planks to get across. We hiked across and took a whole lot of stuff, a gas cooktop, a gas bottle, water, diesel, food.”

“When we got there, they were saying, ‘We’re alright’. But they just had two bottles of water and there was only one generator at the school. They wouldn’t have lasted another 24 hours.

“The people who were helping were locals from the Northern Rivers, and they’d all been impacted themselves. They were helping organise people who’d come down from the Gold Coast and the Tweed to help.”

After dropping off supplies at designated spots, they went up some smaller roads as they knew there’d be people up there who wouldn’t be able to get out.

“Whole mountainsides had come down, water was flowing heavily but the creek crossings were steady. The locals and hub volunteers set up some up some pulley systems across the creeks to get stuff across. We worked on the remote roads that were still accessible, and kept away from the unstable ones. I only witnessed two police on motorcycles in town assisting traffic direction but had zero contact or warning from authorities the entire time I was present in the area,” she says.

“We organised hot meals because people couldn’t drive to get out and get hot food. If the communities had a generator, we’d get a microwave to them to share between about five houses.”

Emergency experience

Waldren has some experience with emergency situations, so she helped prepare some of the volunteers.

“Some of them had been living in the evac centres for two weeks and hadn’t gone home,” she says. “I’ve

Listen to more stories online There are more stories on how the industry coped with the floods in Queensland in a podcast where David Stennett and Luke Daly talk with Matt Galvin from Environ Pools about the impact on pool building and with Sophie de Preaux from All Chlor Chlorinators about the manufacturing perspective of the floods.

Go to www.splashmagazine.com.au/QuickLinks141 or https://splash.buzzsprout.com/.

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April/May 2022

developed a few community-based methodologies to help in emergencies to do with missing people. I know when shock sets in people need to rotate positions and help themselves. They need to rest.”

In April last year Waldren’s friend Trent Riley went missing in Moreton Bay, falling overboard from his tinny. A search was organised by his family and the skateboarding community and Waldren amongst others helped coordinate volunteers to allow the family to coordinate with emergency services and other aspects of the search.

“My background is in marine science and environmental science. There were a lot of issues around water safety and the changing hydrology and silt build-up, and I organised petitions to the government about it.

How the landscape is changing because of deforestation and the human impacts, concrete changing the way runoff occurs and the rate of runoff. I wrote templates for people to address to ministers and to parliament.

“In Murwillumbah, a lot of people come to me for advice on how to deal with the post-traumatic stress. The rescue was a big trigger for a lot of people, the helicopters and things. And for me too from the search for Trent.

“I went down for two days and then did the organising and delegating from home. They were overwhelmed by how many people were coming down from the Tweed and the Gold Coast and they needed to be coordinated. I was also writing open letters and petitions to parliament and the ministers about preventing floods, and about their lack of response. I’ve had no responses from the politicians except just the standard reply – we’ll contact you if we feel we need to respond,” she says.

“Local councils have no resources now, they’ve all been destroyed in the flood. I did a call out to other local LGAs to help them get rid of the waste. I was also trying to organise repetitive volunteers – they need help even after the media disappears.

“They’re minimalist in the Northern Rivers but everything they own got washed away – the water was four metres high even away from the rivers.”

While she’s a carpenter who builds pools, a lot of others from the pool and spa industry went down to help too: plumbers and other tradies such as electricians.

“But they weren’t organised with pipe and cable, they were just coming down to help out of their own pockets. So I said to Jaz at Total Concept Pools that we need to be coordinating with our subbies to get excess material down and help them. But it’s still a long process and still a long way to go.”

Waldren said she puts on her work uniform while she’s helping.

“They asked who I worked for and I was proud to tell them – I let anyone know who I am and where I’m from so they can keep the money coming in. Total Concept Pools are supporting them by supporting us, and they need the money coming in too.”

Unfortunately the second flood affected their work as well, but the water tended to recede more quickly than the first time and brought less mud with it.

To see what’s going on in the recovery hub or to offer assistance, go to https://www.instagram.com/hub.2484/ People wanting to donate can visit the Lismore Council Flood Appeal or the St Vincent’s Flood Appeal – links available at www.splashmagazine.com. au/QuickLinks141. n

enquiries@evolutionwls.com.au

www.brauerswim.com

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What does “fresh” mean in freshwater systems?

A

s homeowners increasingly prioritise their health by reducing chemical use in and around the home, swimming pool water is also undergoing somewhat of a revolution.

In a bid to reduce the side effects associated with traditional disinfectants like chlorine and bromide, manufacturers are developing products and systems that require less chemicals and feel more “natural”.

“Freshwater swimming pool” is an increasingly common term used by the industry to convey a sanitisation system that mimics nature. But what is the technical definition of a freshwater pool?

Truly fresh water is defined by the amount of total dissolved solids (TDSs) in the water. Of all the water on Earth, it is estimated than a mere three per cent can be described as freshwater.

So, what exactly does a freshwater system mean?

How is the disinfectant created by the process and what exactly is it? Does it create a residual disinfection and if not, how is one added?

We look at what is fuelling the trend towards “freshwater” and what it means for homeowners looking to invest in healthier pool sanitisation options.

Meeting regulatory requirements and standards

While the term “freshwater” is increasingly being used to convey a more natural swimming experience — one that is perceived as being “cleaner” and using less chemicals — swimming pool systems promoted as the 38

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closest thing to natural freshwater pools still require sanitisation to keep them properly filtered and treated.

“Poorly maintained swimming pools and spas can create health risks for users,” says SPASA COO Spiros Dassakis.

“Proper disinfection and filtration of pool water kills harmful microorganisms and removes body fats, sunscreen, soil, and other contaminants. This is why pool water needs to be adequately maintained to ensure that it is safe for swimmers.”

While chlorine is the most common disinfectant, industry is innovating to bring about tried-and-tested sanitisation methods such bromine, ozone, ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and ionising systems, which can be used separately or in combination.

While consumers are spoilt for choice in relation to freshwater products and systems, there are a few protocols that need to be met to ensure they meet the appropriate regulatory requirements and standards.

For example: • Does this product or technology use in either isolation or combination: chlorine, bromine, ioniser, UV, or any sanitisation product?

• Does this product or system comply with any standards such as Australian Standards AS3633 — Private Swimming Pools — Water quality?

• Does this product or system need to comply with the relevant Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) requirements?

“To satisfy the efficacy criteria, new sanitisers

By Veda Dante

Above: Naked’s sanitisation system helped Sunshine Coast boy Joshua Heffernan, who suffers from a rare disease called Hypermobile EhlersDanlos Syndrome.

He can now swim as regularly as he likes with no side-effects

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need to be effective against the key pathogens typically found in swimming pool and spa pool water, namely bacteria, protozoa and viruses,” Dassakis explains.

“Where relevant, you should also establish that any products promoted as freshwater have equivalent efficacy to a registered sanitiser based on hypochlorous acid or hypochlorite against these same classes of microorganisms.”

The sanitisation superhero

Throughout the company’s nearly 30-year history, AIS Water CEO Elena Gosse says it has seen plenty of trends including claims about “chlorine-free” pools.

“In the case of fresh or mineral water pools, it’s particularly important to do your research and understand that claims of salt-free or chlorine-free may not be accurate and may have a disastrous effect on your pool,” she says.

“To comply with Australian standards, commercial pools must have enough residual chlorine levels to kill bacteria and algae to make them safe to swim in.

“Chlorine is not the enemy,” Gosse continues, “but is actually a superhero. It is the only globally recognised disinfectant for swimming pool water that removes potentially lethal pathogenic organisms.”

The real difference, she says, is how the chlorine is introduced into the pool.

“Our chlorinators provide a simple, safe and smart way of disinfecting water by effectively creating a small chlorine factory in the pool, thereby negating the need to purchase, deliver, store or handle liquid, granular or gaseous chlorine.”

AIS Water’s technology is used to disinfect several swimming pools at the Malaysian National Aquatic Centre. Originally opened in 1998 for the Commonwealth Games, in 2017, it hosted the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games which featured over 40 international competitive events including swimming, diving, water polo, and synchronised swimming. The 28,000m2 facility is constructed in accordance with the rigorous standards and regulations of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) and features a long course 50m Olympic sized pool, a 25m diving pool and a 20m training pool.

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“Although the system does produce chlorine, without cyanuric acid (stabiliser) in the pool there is virtually no trace of chlorine, hence no feel, smell or taste.”

April/May 2022 SPLASH! 39

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In 2008 AIS Water launched EcoLine, an in-line chlorine generator designed for low-salinity residential and competition swimming pools with TDS levels as low as 1200ppm.

“AIS’ systems automatically disinfect water onsite and inline using a process known as electrolysis, whereby water passes through an electrolytic cell converting salts and minerals into sodium hypochlorite (commonly known as liquid chlorine),” explains Gosse. “The chlorine is then distributed directly into the water keeping it clear and bacteria free.”

With traditional chlorine dosing, liquid chlorine and calcium hypochlorite dosing constantly increase TDS and salt levels in the pool water. A high TDS level severely compromises water quality and leads to cloudy water and scale deposits, as well as corrosion of pool equipment. It can also irritate swimmers’ skin and eyes.

Calcium hypochlorite constantly increases water hardness, which then negatively impacts water chemistry along with swimmers’ comfort levels. High levels of water hardness can lead to unbalanced and cloudy pool water, scaling, reduced chlorine efficacy, compromised chlorine testing and filter and heater inefficiencies.

“AIS’s water disinfection technology addresses all these issues,” she says.

“In fact, independent research by Griffith University in Brisbane found that pools traditionally disinfected

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by liquid or granular chlorine were unbalanced 50 per cent and 80 per cent of the time respectively, leading to massive water dumping. Pools treated with AIS Water’s technology were balanced 100 per cent of the time, eliminating the need to dump water.”

Gosse says that the SPASA Climate Care and Smart Approved WaterMark accreditation are more evidence of the uniqueness and sustainability of their freshwater technology when compared to traditional chlorine dosing and even standard saltwater chlorinators.

“For domestic swimming pools and spas, the operation should adhere to the guidelines but generally this is at the discretion of the homeowner.”

Some of the high-profile projects using EcoLine technology include the five-star Riley by Crystalbrook Resort in Cairns in tropical north Queensland.

“Riley features a lagoon pool spanning over 1000m2 fringed by a man-made beach. Guests enjoy the luxury of feeling as though they are swimming in freshwater while EcoLine safely disinfects over 1,000,000 litres of water,” Gosse says. “The technology has eliminated the need to store or handle large amounts of chlorine.”

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weather dislodgement, cockatoo attack, hail weather dislodgement, cockatoo attack, hail Gosse says recreational and competitive swimmers weather dislodgement, cockatoo attack, hail weather dislodgement, cockatoo attack, hail damage and freezing cold conditions.

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Davey’s product manager Tori Caskie Davey’s product manager Tori Caskie Healthier choices Davey’s product manager Tori Caskie Davey’s product manager Tori Caskie says their new residential pool heat pumps says their new residential pool heat pumps While nearly all systems require a “residual” level of says their new residential pool heat says their new residential pool heat pumps pumps offer simplicity, value and reliability, and the offer simplicity, value and reliability, chlorine to be maintained in the pool water, Darren offer simplicity, simplicity, value value and and reliability, reliability, and and the the offer and the range now has been extended to offer more range now has been extended to offer more Hayward EnergyLine Milne says the NakedThe System “is the opposite”. range now has been extended to offer more The Hayward EnergyLine range now has been extended to offer more The Hayward EnergyLine powerful heating options –– all of which The Hayward Pro Inverter heat heating options of which are are “The residual sanitiser in the poolEnergyLine is nopump longer powerful powerful heating options –– all all of Pro Inverter heat pump Pro Inverter heat pump powerful for heating options alloperation. of which which are are designed extremely quiet Pro Inverter heat pump designed for extremely quiet operation. chlorine — it is copper and silver that keeps the water designed for extremely quiet operation. designed for extremely quiet operation.

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Models available include the DHP90 Models Models available available include include the the DHP90 DHP90 Models available include the DHP90 (9kW), the DHP130 (13 kW), (9kW), the the DHP130 DHP130 (13 (13 kW), kW), the the (9kW), the (9kW), the DHP130 (13 kW), the new new DHP170 DHP170 (17.5kW), (17.5kW), and and the the new new new DHP170 (17.5kW), and the new DHP170 (17.5kW), and the new new DHP210 (21kW).

DHP210 (21kW).

DHP210 (21kW).

DHP210 (21kW).

Commercial sector: helping Commercial sector: helping Commercial sector: helping transition from gas gas transition from transition from gas

Energy management and analytical Energy management and analytical Energy management and analytical Energy management and SmartConsult analytical consultancy services firm consultancy services firm SmartConsult consultancy services services firm firm SmartConsult SmartConsult consultancy focuses primarily on reducing focuses primarily primarily on on reducing reducing aquatic aquatic centres’ centres’ focuses aquatic focuses primarily on reducing aquatic centres’ centres’ energy and infrastructure costs, energy and and infrastructure infrastructure costs, costs, which which energy which energy and infrastructure costs, which includes transitioning them from gas systems includes transitioning them from gas systems includes transitioning them from includes transitioning them from gas gas systems systems over to high efficiency heat pumps. over to high efficiency heat pumps. over to to high high efficiency efficiency heat heat pumps. pumps. over

Supplying quality spa par ssfor for over 20 years par Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 years Supplying quality spa parts over 20 years Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 years parts Supplying quality spa par s for over 20 years Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 years Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 years Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 years Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 years Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 years Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 years years Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 years Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 years Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 years Supplying quality spa parts for over 20 years

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42 SPLASH! 42 SPLASH! 42 42 SPLASH! SPLASH!

April/May 2021 April/May 2021 April/May April/May 2021 2021

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April/May 2022 SPLASH! 41

feature

EcoLine technology is also used to disinfect a two million litre pool located at the University of the Sunshine Coast

“To comply with Australian standards, commercial pools must have enough residual chlorine levels to kill bacteria and algae to make them safe to swim in.”

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www.shop.abgal.com.au

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“So, although the system does produce chlorine, without cyanuric acid (stabiliser) in the pool there is virtually no trace of chlorine, hence no feel, smell or taste leaving the water completely fresh and comparative to drinking water from a household tap.”

Milne says some pool builders and pool shops continue to perpetuate the myth that residential swimming pools must have always at least 1ppm of residual chlorine in the pool: “This is just not true and only applicable to ‘commercial’ pools due to such high bather loads and obviously potential accidents that can happen in large commercial pools with many people swimming.”

Another common myth, says Milne, is that copper/silver ionisation doesn’t work in very hot or tropical climates.

“This was often an issue many years ago for two reasons: ionisation was not controlled properly, meaning too little or too much was in the pool at a given time; the ioniser was a ‘stand-alone’ sanitiser with nothing else for oxidisation as mentioned above,” he says.

Without the water being oxidised, Milne says it would become cloudy after heavy use or weather and the pool owner would have to manually add chlorine into the pool to clear it up again.

“This is why the Naked Freshwater System combines both processes together automatically and the control and running of the pool is fully managed by the digital software where it understands the size of the pool when first installed,” he says.

“Typically, advancement in new technology has been slow in the pool industry but we are now starting to see a much more rapid change as the internet provides customers with much more choice of the systems and types of pools and sanitisation they can have in their backyard. Our Freshwater System is using two technologies that have been around for hundreds of years for sanitisation, but the unique part is the brains behind how these are controlled and managed to provide the ultimate swimming experience in backyard pools.”

Milne attributes the drive to “true freshwater pools” to the growing demand for healthier, more environmentally conscious pool sanitisation systems.

“People are trying to reduce the chemicals used in foods, cleaning, and health products, so why not their pool water? As we often state: ‘If you can’t drink it, why would you swim in it?’ he says.

“The other large factor is the increasing population that suffers some form of skin allergy or breathing condition where chlorine and associate chemicals have a real adverse effect,” Milne says.

“Almost one in five Aussies are now suffering from some form of these conditions, particularly children, so parents are seeking a healthier option for their pool.

And why wouldn’t they? Pools are promoted as being a healthy option for exercise and family fun, so why not have the safest, healthiest water you can when using the pool?”

BOSS SOLAR COMMUNITY MEMBER

Boss Solar SPLASH Half Hor Issue 142 - Boss Community.indd 2

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Getting closer to nature

FOR PERFECT SWIMMING CONDITIONS ALL YEAR ROUND. Innovative. Energy Efficient. Super Quiet.

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Case study one

Naked’s sanitisation system was described as a game-changer for Sunshine Coast mother Regina Heffernan, whose son suffers from a rare disease called Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

“Joshua is hypersensitive to smell, chemicals, dust mites, mould, has poor sleep, overheats easily and has a very restricted diet due to a range of severe food sensitivities and allergies,” Heffernan says.

“Every aspect of Joshua’s life has to be closely managed from the cleanliness of his environment to temperature, to exercise and activity levels and chemical and smell exposure.”

In the past, it would take Joshua around three days to recover after swimming in a pool.

“He’d usually develop an immediate chlorine reaction including red painful eyes, blurred vision, runny nose and long-lasting congestion, nausea and fatigue that would further impact his sleep and ability to breathe at night,” she recalls.

Joshua’s parents joined forces with their pool technician to find a solution, and had Naked’s system installed in time for summer.

“Since then, Joshua has had a fantastic time in the pool, he’s been able to swim as regularly as he likes with no side-effects,” says his mother.

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Regina Heffernan drinking her pool water

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A pool disinfected by the Naked System

“In the case of fresh or mineral water pools, it’s particularly important to do your research and understand that claims of salt-free or chlorine-free may not be accurate.”

Case study two

Another case study on the effects of chlorine in pool water comes close to home for Nick Briscoe.

He knows all too well the pain of seeing his then young son Dalton develop eczema and breathing problems when he swam in the family’s heavily chlorinated pool.

Briscoe was so moved by the experience he worked to create a healthier alternative.

Eventually he developed Hydroxypure, which was brought into the Australian market in 2014 by Waterco.

“The water sanitisation system produces clean, clear, non-toxic water without chlorine and the associated range of harsh pool chemicals,” he says.

“Seeing the delight on Dalton’s face as he finally swam for as long as he wanted in beautifully pure water, which left barely a trace on his skin and lungs, was an incredible feeling. In fact, we noticed that his skin condition even seemed to improve after he’d been swimming in Hydroxypure water.”

After years of research and development, the advanced water sanitisation system found its first commercial application in the children’s pool and waterfall at Turtle Beach Resort on the Gold Coast. Following a stringent six-month health and safety trial, the Gold Coast authorities approved the system in 2014.

Sanitiser approval

“The swimming pool industry is awash with many different sanitation systems, all of which claim various swimming experiences, cost savings and low ongoing maintenance,” says Briscoe.

“The reality is there is a limited scope of what is an approved sanitiser for use in a swimming pool or spa.

“There are three sanitisers that are recognised by the APVMA and health department guidelines,” he continues,” and they are chlorine, bromine and hydrogen peroxide. These three sanitisers are the cornerstone of sanitation for a pool or spa. If you cannot demonstrate a residual of at least one of these sanitisers in your pool or spa, then it may not be safe to enter.”

Oxi Swim installation

For the operation of a commercial swimming pool or spa it is mandatory that one of these sanitisers is used.

In some locations, hydrogen peroxide can only be used in combination with a supplementary product.

“For domestic swimming pools and spas, the operation should adhere to the guidelines but generally this is at the discretion of the homeowner,” says Briscoe.

“It is not mandatory to adhere to the guideline.

It is therefore vital that any consumer considering a sanitation system must understand what the measurable residual sanitiser will be for any system considered.

In addition to an approved sanitiser there are many supplementary products that can enhance the ability of the chosen sanitiser to work effectively.”

Briscoe says that in reality all the approved sanitisers have limitations.

“Even when operated at the recommended levels there can still be outbreaks, such as cryptosporidium and giardia that can have severe impacts on the wellbeing of humans.”

He says it is for this reason many health department guidelines recommend sequential disinfection systems where additional elements support the chosen sanitiser in the pool or spa.

“The common supplementary products we see in conjunction with an approved sanitiser are ozone, U/V, copper/silver, and a plethora of algicides, clarifiers, phosphate removers and chemicals to assist the ability of the chosen sanitiser to work effectively.”

Briscoe says the challenge for the swimming pool industry is how it can achieve the ultimate “freshwater” swimming experience and then balance this with the operation cost and maintenance required.

Switch and swap disinfection

“There is a genuine demand for alternatives to chlorine that will provide a better swimming experience such as hydrogen peroxide-based systems but there have been challenges in delivering a long-term cost-effective solution for this method,” says Briscoe.

He suggests one possible future for pool and spa sanitation is a hybrid approach that does not lock the consumer into any one fixed sanitation process.

Generally, an investment in existing swimming pool equipment ties the consumer to one method and does not easily allow changing to another. Briscoe suggests a hybrid approach would allow consumers to easily use the sanitation method based on their needs at any one time.

He suggests, for example, that the consumer can run their pool on a hydrogen peroxide-based system using April/May 2022 SPLASH! 47

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“Would you consider a body of water with TDS of 1500ppm, a copper level of 0.4ppm and traces of silver to be freshwater?”

Nick Briscoe working on the Oxi Swim system

an advanced oxidation process for the summer, then during winter use chlorine as a cheaper alternative. The chlorine could be generated by a salt chlorinator or any other traditional form.

“The combination approach will enhance the ability of each sanitiser to play a continuous role in preventing outbreaks of biofilm that can lead to many of the challenges that we face with maintenance of a pool or spa,” he says.

“Biofilm can build up resistance to the sanitiser used in the swimming pool or spa so alternating between different sanitisers will help reduce the incidence of biofilms forming in reticulation system and filter.”

Following the success of Hydroxypure, Briscoe and Waterco have worked together on a new more streamlined system which is more flexible, affordable, and easy to use.

Oxi Swim is a multi-mode water sanitisation solution for domestic and commercial pools that incorporates ground-breaking technology in the shape of the hydroxyl radical generator and chlorine dioxide.

This is one version of the hybrid system Briscoe is talking about – moving from chlorine or hydrogen peroxide in combination with the advanced oxidation process as desired.

“There are several options available with Oxi Swim that give the consumer ultimate control over costs and ongoing maintenance of their swimming pool or spa.

We’ve managed to minimise the amount of hardware while harnessing various sanitisers from one system, which is a world first.”

Is it really “fresh” water?

Lo-Chlor Chemicals managing director Paul Simons says the term “freshwater” should only be used when discussing natural water bodies such as lakes and rivers.

He says that systems using ionisers and electrolysis having a minimum TDS including salt of 1500ppm should not be considered “freshwater”.

“This statement alone contradicts the idea of a freshwater system, and they are therefore misleading the consumer,” he says.

It is worth noting some of the Australian systems operate on a TDS lower than 1500ppm. However, they still require some form of residual disinfectant and some level of TDS to operate.

Salt and mineral swimming pools use a chlorinator to convert sodium chloride (salt) which is either straight Nacl3 or a blend with potassium and magnesium sulphate.

“The result is still the same,” says Simons. “The chlorinator by way of electrolysis converts this Nacl3 salt into sodium hypochlorite, which is liquid chlorine.”

He says this is the same whether the system calls the electrolytic converter a chlorinator or uses another name.

“They all then add in a copper and silver electrode system which is better known as an ioniser,” he says.

“Electricity passes a current through the copper and silver electrodes which then feed these metals into the water. These companies recommend you have a copper level of at least 0.4ppm. Would you consider a body of water with TDS of 1500ppm, a copper level of 0.4ppm and traces of silver to be freshwater?”

Simons says he has nothing to gain by questioning these systems but believes the industry should make it clear to consumers that these systems are not actually “fresh” water. n Waterco’s Oxi Swim

Contacts AIS Water: www.aiswater.com.au Oxi Swim: www.crystaclear.com.au Lo-chlor: www.lochlor.com Naked Pools: www.nakedpools.com.au Waterco: www.waterco.com.au

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SERVICES AND WHOLESALERS

www.aquasw.c

om.au

sales@aquasw.com.au

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The great debate PART ONE

T

his June at the SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show on the Gold Coast, there will be two Great Debates – panel discussions on topics of importance to the industry, featuring leaders in the particular fields.

SPLASH! will run previews of each of these debates.

This issue we are looking at “A Hot Topic – Raising a Standard” looking at questions around residential swimming pool heating including how the new standards will impact the sector, and what are the best choices for the particular consumer applications.

Panellists include Callum Ross, general manager Boss Solar; Tim Martin, general manager EvoHeat; Rob Sterland, product manager Pentair; Colin Mauger, director Supreme Heating; and Tom Boadle, general manager Sunbather. The mediator will be SPASA CIO Luke Daly.

Here is a preview of the presentations of some of the panellists.

The SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show Be sure to get along to see the great debate in person and enjoy the lively discussion.

June 22-23, 2022 Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre Broadbeach, Queensland REGISTER NOW AT

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SPLASH!

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Callum Ross, Boss Solar

The new heating standards I am delighted with the increase to the minimum recommended coverage for thermal solar pool heating. I believe we need to be customer focused in everything we do. This type of change will drive customer outcomes in a positive direction, delighting more and more pool owners which in turn increases buyer advocacy. In also draws consistency between the standard, the theory and the practice, removing any ambiguity that may confuse potential buyers and lead to distrust.

How should the right heater for the right job be considered?

It’s essential when advising a client on heating solutions that we first aim to understand the customers’ expectations and desired pool usage. Are they recreational users?

Is the pool intended to add to their fitness regime? Or is the pool perhaps for rehabilitation or hydrotherapy? These applications all have different heating requirements.

Understanding the application is critical to ensuring the client has years of enjoyment from the pool and that the heating solution meets both the desired use and the expectation. Location and installation requirements should also be considered.

Our industry needs to avoid steering pool owners into a decision that suits an agenda. We need to listen and give them a solution that best suits their individual requirements.

How should data be presented to consumers about their heating needs and projected outcomes?

As an industry, we need to present data in a standardised and consistent way that allows pool owner to compare apples with apples. This data also needs to be clear, simple, and free from jargon or asterisks.

The information provided to customers should be comprehensive, including all options. Too often consumers find out about alternative options after the fact and are left disappointed. As the trusted advisors, we need to act as such.

What should our industry know/do that they may not be right now to help us all improve?

We need to consider the future sustainability of our industry. We need to be considering things beyond short term satisfactions and ease of installation. Listening to our clients’ needs rather than our own will ensure pool owners are satisfied not just in the initial excited phase when the pool is a new shiny toy, but in five years’, 10 years’ and 20 years’ time. We need new and existing pool owners to have an ongoing affinity with their pool, ensuring buyer advocacy and positive promotion of our industry.

Tim Martin, EvoHeat

The last 10 years has seen a massive upsurge in heating technologies and suppliers within the market. Having specified heating standards in place will help our industry and pool owners make better informed decisions about their heating needs.

A pool is a significant investment, and without proper temperature control pool owners can only utilise it for less than 20 per cent of the year. Better education around

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heat energy from the sun, but it is dependent on the sun shining and takes up roof space. Often more than one heater type is needed to meet the clients’ needs.

How should data be presented to consumers about their heating needs and projected outcomes?

First, use the standard as the basis for these calculations and then at least the consumer is getting information based on the science. Second, explain that the performance and efficiency is still influenced by the environment so you can expect some variability when unseasonable weather occurs.

What should our industry know/do that they may not be right now (to help us all improve)?

Adopt the new standard. Provide heat pump ratings at the specified test points.

Colin Mauger, Supreme Heating What are the best heating options for backyard swimming pools?

IMAGE: EvoHeat

pool heating solutions and having standards in place will help reduce the amount of false and misleading information being made to the industry and pool owners.

The industry always talks about heating, but it is not just heating. As an industry we should be talking about temperature control – this provides year-round results in all weather conditions and environments.

Last year, almost 20 per cent of our pool heating enquiries were pool owners looking to upgrade their existing heating technology because it didn’t meet their heating needs. One of the most common issues we see in the industry is the wrong solution or the wrong size heater installed.

There are many factors that need to be considered to determine the correct solution for pool owners – pool size, desired temperature, swim season, daily usage, weather conditions, shading, the use of covers and the ability of solar power. These are all important factors that need to be considered to recommend the right heating solution.

To ensure confidence and to reassure our customers they are purchasing the right solution, we provide a detailed pool heat evaluation report that outlines their expected pool temperatures, swim season, estimated operating times and costs based on their specific requirements.

Robert Sterland, Pentair

The new heating standards The new heat pump standard AS5352 is all about making sure the consumer gets the right product for the application. Across the industry we find unhappy consumers left with an uncomfortable pool, simply because they were sold a heat pump that was too small or not installed correctly.

The new standard standardises testing and performance ratings, so consumers can compare apples with apples and so marketers cannot inflate performance figures to boost sales with inadequate product to the detriment of our industry. It also describes in detail how to calculate the required heater size for a particular application, so that the consumer is sold the right product for their pool.

In addition to this, the standard also details best practice for the installation of heat pumps so that pool builders and installers have a consistent reference and so that the heat pumps will perform as intended. This standardisation of best practice raises the bar and helps with the further professionalisation of our industry.

How should the right heater for the right job be considered?

Listen to the clients wants and needs. When do they want to swim? Summer, spring/ autumn, all year round? What temperature would they like the pool at? Look at the available space for the equipment, including roof space. Ask the customer if they want to install PV in future, if they do not already. This will guide the selection of the heating type. Gas heaters are small and have incredible heat output, ideal for on-demand heating and heating in cold weather. Heat pumps are very efficient and will provide heat output in all seasons, but in cold climates larger units are required which increases the up-front costs. For the cost of running a circulation pump, solar provides free

Our swimming pools are predominately outdoors and are used seasonally, typically on the warmer sunny days.

Traditional heating solutions of solar pool heating in most cases has more than met customer expectations.

The energy is free and ensures the overall cost of owning and operating a pool is minimised.

The market has shifted with a surge of popularity towards heat pumps. From our position – on a retail level around Australia 80 per cent of our sales are solar and 20 per cent are heat pumps. On a trade level it is the other way round.

Perceived value for the pool owner is in and around low operating costs and sustainable/responsible heating solutions.

Perceived value at point of sale of the pool is controlled by the pool builder and about the convenience of the package (ease and control of the sizing and installation).

So, what is the right choice? Are we enhancing consumer advocacy to ensure continued industry growth, and will we have the support of the government?

Inverter heat pumps rely heavily on the pool owner consistently keeping the pool cover on. This is not happening and presents problems for the pool cover and pool shell. The trade and consumer need better education – fact sheets – running costs – PV solar requirements to run a heat pump – recovery costs when the cover is left off overnight etc.

The energy used to run a heat pump is unnecessarily undermining the solar PV panels purpose and investment of the government into their rebate program.

Embodied carbon energy is worth discussing – why build a renewable PV system, deliver and install to run a fossil fuel heat pump when a proven renewable solar system was available? We are a long way from supporting nett zero emissions.

Heat pumps can provide a suitable solution for spas, daily swimmers and sites that do not allow solar to be installed (roof difficulties, shade, roof access, roof space and aesthetics).

Pool builders, consultants and suppliers should be accountable and be able to demonstrate responsible heating solutions based on individual sites. We should explore the possibility of having to submit a projected running cost for the pool as a requirement of SPASA. Hierarchy of consideration should be – solar – heat pump – gas. With a pool cover used wherever possible. n April/May 2022 SPLASH! 51

Wed 22 - Thu 23 JUNE 2022 Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre • Expo 30% larger with more than 25 new companies • New Innovation Zone with products you will probably have never seen • Introducing the all new industry party event - SPLASH! The After-Party.

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JOIN SWIMMING STAR BROOKE HANSON OLY OAM,

KEYNOTE open to all DON’T MISS IT Wednesday 22nd June 9.00am-9.45am

an Olympic gold and silver medallist, and one of Australia’s most recognised Olympians, as she speaks on the first morning of SPLASH! Start you SPLASH! Expo experience early, with powerful sessions taking place as the expo opens.

WOMEN IN INDUSTRY WAVES Breakfast

Wednesday 22nd June - 7.30am – 8.45am

Striving for Excellence whilst Striving for Balance Brooke Hanson OLY OAM

When Silver Is Gold – Believing, Succeeding and Achieving

Brooke Hanson OLY OAM The importance of ‘the journey’ sharing my personal journey to Olympic glory and empowering internal self -belief to reach your goals, hopes and dreams.

Our opening address is from the bubbly and energetic swimming star Brooke Hanson OLY OAM. Empowering people through the importance of ‘the journey’ Brooke will give an insight of her remarkable journey to Olympic glory and how she has implemented her learnings into life beyond the pool.

Olympic gold and silver medalist Brooke Hanson has built a successful business as an inspirational speaker, media consultant, energy management coach, mentor, facilitator as well as TV and radio presenter. Brooke’s journey as a career woman whilst raising a family and running her own business has given her a true understanding on the pressure women face.

Brooke looks forward to encouraging the audience to make “WAVES” by striving for vision, excellence and celebrating your success along the way.

Brooke finds happiness and faces every difficulty with a smile and looks forward to sharing her inspirational story and her keys to individual and team success by encouraging selfbelief and accountability.

Inspiring people through her story of resilience, determination and her positive outlook after much heartache is motivating. Brooke will focus on the importance of resilience, adversity, success, motivation, happiness and well-being.

r

B

oo Brooke will share the keys to energy management and AM ke Hanson OLY O the importance of self-love and care whilst striving for a better balance. Provide tips for juggling the daily pressures of Come ready for an energised opening session as the full workload and expectations on women to be wonder women Brooke inspires you to think about the changes you and share how she copes with the fast-paced life as an active mum. can implement to achieve personal excellence both professionally and personally.

Embracing what’s important through passion, purpose, love, Brooke’s outcome for the opening address is to leadership and finding internal strength to persevere in the face of empower individuals and businesses to achieve your biggest challenges. Brooke looks forward to empowering a room personal and team greatness by inspiring you to live a full of women during an interactive session, enjoying a hot breakfast purpose driven life. without racing out the door!

THE GREAT DEBATE ON THE SURFACE: WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DAMAGED POOL SURFACES?

How are customers being impacted?

MEDIATOR

Thursday 23rd June - 2.00pm in the Central Room on the show floor

What would the united, best practice view be to prevent the deterioration of pool equipment and surfaces look like?

THE GREAT DEBATE – A HOT TOPIC RAISING A STANDARD

Wednesday 22nd June - 2.00pm in the education theatre on the expo floor Lindsay McGrath. SPASA CEO

MEDIATOR

PANELLISTS:

Luke Daly, SPASA CIO

Steven Humphris – Focus Products Coating Specialist - TBC

PANELLISTS

Lew Papineau, Aquatic Leisure Technologies

Tom Boadle, Sunbather

Derek Prince, Daisy Pool Covers

Tim Martin, Evo

Matt Galvin, Environ Pools

Callum Ross, BOSS

David Daft, Fluidra

Colin Mauger, Supreme

Do not miss this discussion of leading experts working through water chemistry and the impact on the pool; covering such questions as:

Rob Sterland, Pentair

Has the introduction of new equipment, the demand for heating and types of sanitation affected pool surfaces?

With so many options and so much consumer demand.

Which heater is the right choice and how should that be presented to consumers?

Are todays professionals equipped to deal with these changes?

SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show | 22-23 June 2022

AUSTRALASIA’S LARGEST POOL & SPA TRADE SHOW MORE EXHIBITORS, MORE SUPPLIERS, MORE NEW PRODUCTS List of exhibitors in alphabetical order 3D Stone

Hanna Instruments

PSL Pool Systems

AAT Acrylics

Haolide

Quest Fresh Water Pool System

AB Philips

Hayward Pool Products Australia

Reece Irrigation and Pools

ABGAL LINERS & COVERS

HiTech Pacific

Remco Australia

AIS Water

Hotspring Spa Australasia

River Sands|Quartzon

Albatross Pools

International Quadratics

Robo-Tek International

Aqua-Quip

IR Learning

SEKO S.P.A

Aquarius Technologies

Jewels4Pools

Select Chemicals

AQUEA

Jilin Test Bio-Electron Co

Shipping Container Pools

Ascon

Lailey and Coates International

Skimmer Lids

Australian Energy Systems

LaMotte Pacific

Skypebble

Australian Plunge Pool

LifeFloor

Soundblock Solutions

Autopool

Lincoln Pool Equipment

Spa - Craft

BioGuard | Dryden Aqua

LUXAPOOL® Swimming Pool Paint

Spa Electrics

Blue Glass Pebble Company

Magen eco-Energy – Heliocol Solar Pool Heating

Spa King Blower Co

Boss Solar

Maytronics Australia

Brauer Industries

Naked Pools

Brauer Industries

Neptune Benson Australia

Building Approvals & Advice

Orimatech

Canibuild

Pacific Pool Products |SIP Topology

ClearWater Acrylic

PAL Lighting

Climate Care Certified

Palintest

Conductor Hub

Para Mobility

Cooke Industries

Payright

DAB

Pentair

Daisy Pool Covers

Pinch Payments

Davey Water Products Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources

Podium Pool + Outdoor Design

Spa Parts Online SPATEX SPLASH! SplashMe Pool Automation Systems SR Smith Sterns Pools Sunbather Sunline Australia Sunlover Heating Supreme Heating Swimart Swimplex Aquatics TBWS Aquatic | PULSAR The Acoustic Box

Designer Beadcrete

Pool and Spa

Driclad Pool Technology

Pool Controls

Eco Solar Pool Heating Australia | Aussie UnderCover®

Pool Power Aust. – Pool Lab Water Management

Everhard Industries

Pool Ranger

EvoHeat

Pool Service Solutions |Riptide Pool VAC

Evolution Water & Lighting Solutions

Pool Site Quote

Fastlane Pools

Pool Water Products

Fluidra Australia

Pool Werx

Focus Products

PoolPro

Fourways Aqua Blue

Professional Certification Group

WATERMAID®

Guangdong New Energy Technology Development

Prominent Fluids

WhiteWater

The Little Pool Co. by Compass Pools Australia The Pool Tile Company UNICUM & SOPREFA Viewa Waterblade Australia Waterco Waterlilly Australia | Hychlor WATERLINK

BRAND NEW AT SPLASH!

THE AFTER-PARTY It’s Thursday 7.30pm and while SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show might be over SPLASH! The AfterParty is just getting started. With full band and live music from The Baker Boys, some exciting physical challenges, special roving entertainment, high quality food and drinks; this is an opportunity to grab your team and your clients together and celebrate the hard work. Tickets essential.

Dress Code – Business UP / Party DOWN

22-23 June 2022 | SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show

SPLASH! is a week full of activities; a week when you step away from your day-to-day work and invest time learning and identifying opportunities for your business’ future. Full details of everything that is going on can be found at www.splashexpo.com.au . To make planning easier, here is a checklist of some key activities.

Tuesday 21st June Australian Swim Schools Association National Conference starts and runs for three days.

Wednesday 22nd June Keynote speaker Brooke Hanson kicks off the day with a Women’s breakfast followed by an empowering motivational speech.

At 10am – SPLASH! opens – 150 exhibitors and a new Innovation pavilion. A full day of FREE to attend seminars runs on the show floor covering topics such as Mineral pools, Health & Wellness, Spa Suction and Skimmer Safety, digital solutions to supercharge your business, energy efficiency regulations, emerging challenges for the industry, water chemistry, climate care and pool barrier standards.

If learning is more for you, the Commercial Pool Technicians course runs from 8am to 4.30pm.

End the day with a drink at the networking reception.

Thursday 23rd June Start the day with a Site Tour. See the back of house workings of either Sea World or Somerset College. It’s a unique practical opportunity and both tours leave at 9am giving you plenty of time to visit the expo on your return.

But places are limited, you must register to attend.

The trade show opens at 10am and again there is a full day of seminar activity on the show floor.

Sessions include: Risk minimisation, integrated energy systems, leadership, hydraulics, reaching new customers, effectively marketing your business, leak detection, heating options for pools & spas and equipotential bonding.

Also starting at 10am and running all morning is the IAKS commercial aquatic managers’ workshop. The event welcomes commercial operators, local council planners and managers specific to the aquatic and leisure industries. The workshop has two main themes: - Resilience and Reinvention- optimising your operations - Designing aquatic centres for sustainability and safety At the conclusion of the show make sure to register for the spectacular SPLASH! The After-Party where there will be music by The Baker Boys plus special guest entertainment.

Friday 24th June SPASA Golf Day: unwind with clients and staff and enjoy a round of relaxing golf with a chance to win some major prizes.

REGISTER NOW

www.splashexpo.com.au

Owned By

Media Partner

Organised By

Platinum Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsor

irrigation & pools

SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show | 22-23 June 2022

news

Conferences

Commercial & Aquatics In brief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Aquatic centres help with flood relief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Melbourne art pond opens to public. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Inspiring commercial projects. . . . . . . . . . 60 The joy of swimming carnivals. . . . . . . . . . 62 Making pools accessible for all . . . . . . . . . 66

Lauren Clemett

ASSA announces line-up for 2022 National Conference

T

he Australian Swim Schools Association (ASSA) has announced the line-up of speakers for its National Conference, held as part of SPLASH! Week, from June 21 to June 23, 2022.

The conference aims to re:connect with everyone face-to-face, and the quality lineup aims to expand knowledge and re:spark your creativity, re:inspire you to dream big, and challenge you to take your team and business to the next level.

The presenters include:

Liam Mayo

Dr Liam Mayo, CEO, author and public speaker who specialises in helping people, governments and businesses to navigate transformational change. During his time on the frontline of the global refugee crisis Liam used his proven fast trust methodologies to cut through divisive cultures and unite people toward a shared vision of the future. He is best known for leading teams through significant uncertainty, advising the United Nation Human Rights Commission, the International Organisation for Migration as well as the Department of Immigration Papua New Guinea.

An international award-winning futurist, Mayo is passionate about growing leaders who not only understand how culture influences the way we think about the future, but use culture to unify and drive successful teams.

Speaker topics are Strategy – Beyond Change Management; and Fast Trust: Leadership for a new culture.

Lauren Clemett

The Brand Navigator, Lauren Clemett is an international award-winning neurobranding expert.

Told as a child that she had word-blindness and would never be able to read or write properly, she went on to become a five-time bestselling author and multiple international award winner, using her dyslexia as her greatest asset – helping others understand how the brain sees brands.

She has worked at leading advertising agencies and in brand management for 56

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more than 30 years, helping launch hundreds of global brands and appearing in worldwide media, on podcasts, summits and stages as the sought-after branding specialist.

Clemett shares how to overcome and overwhelm; get a clear direction to market and promote professional and business services; and to stand out from the crowd as well-known, well-paid and wanted brands.

Theo Millward

Swimtime managing director Theo Millward is a graduate of Lancaster University with a BBA in Management and has experience in IT consultancy at IBM, and finance at Grant Thornton. Millward has five years senior industry experience at the UK Swimming Teachers Association being the architect of unprecedented growth and innovation. In 2016, Millward took the opportunity to purchase the UK’s largest independent, award winning swim school, Swimtime, which teaches 20,000 children a week in hundreds of sites across the UK. Since the change in ownership, Swimtime has seen a surge in growth, the relaunch of the brand and the deployment of a ground-breaking management system that brings cutting-edge digitisation to the business. In recognition of this steep change in growth, in 2018 Millward was a finalist in the prestigious Great British Entrepreneur Awards for Scale Up, recognising high growth businesses. Outside of Swimtime, Millward founded Stagetime, which runs performing arts classes for children, and the Youth Leisure Company which aims to totally reimagine childcare in the UK by focussing on health and wellbeing through sport and the arts.

Other presenters include: • Lindsay McGrath, CEO of SPASA Australia and New Zealand • Emma and Laurie Lawrence from the Laurie Lawrence Swim School • Beth Lewty from Synx • Duane Slabbert from BrandServe • David Gorman from SwimJim USA Register through the SPLASH! Expo portal: https://splashexpo.com.au

news

Training

LSV research shows a net increase of up to 1800 swim teachers is needed to meet demand in Victoria

Discounted LSV courses attempt to boost swim teacher numbers Life Saving Victoria is attempting to address the swim teacher shortage by discounting its swim teacher courses by 40 per cent.

LSV is reducing the course cost from $250 to $146. They suggest this $104 discount represents one dollar for every non-fatal drowning incident reported in Victoria in 2020/21.

LSV says an aquatic facility would be able to train a cohort of 12 new staff for just $1752.

LSV public training and aquatic industry general manager Andy Dennis says the promotion is aimed to boost swim teacher numbers in response to an ongoing state-wide shortage of qualified staff and to help raise awareness of the impact of non-fatal drownings.

“It’s been a tough couple of years for the aquatic industry, with rolling lockdowns exacerbating the existing swim teacher shortage as staff sought other employment during the pandemic,” he says.

“It’s our hope this promotion will help to attract new swim teachers to the profession and alleviate some of these staffing strains being experienced across the sector.

“With millions of missed lessons due to lockdowns, and the highest child drowning toll in 20 years, Life Saving Victoria is committed to helping resolve the current swim teacher shortage so more kids can get back into lessons and learning vital water safety skills as soon as possible,” he says.

“In addition to tragic drowning fatalities, non-fatal incidents can leave patients with serious and in many cases lifelong injuries. By offering a dollar discount for every non-fatal drowning incident reported in Victoria last year, we also hope to raise awareness of this under-reported statistic.”

With 260 discounted course positions available, the promotion builds on free swim teacher training delivered to 240 candidates between April and June 2021, bringing the total number of swim teachers trained by Life Saving Victoria free of charge or at a heavily discounted rate to 500.

“Our research shows a net increase of up to 1800 swim teachers is needed to meet demand in Victoria, and we’re proud to be able to do what we can to support the aquatic industry by encouraging new swim teachers to consider joining the industry,” he says.

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A flexible role “On top of being a rewarding role, being a swim teacher is also incredibly flexible. With 600 public and private swimming pools across Victoria and shifts to suit an array of lifestyles, we’re particularly encouraging students, parents returning to the workforce and retirees to consider swim teaching.”

Candidates will be provided with a three-year industry license and access to a wide range of associated benefits including free professional development and CPR training.

In addition, Life Saving Victoria will work with candidates to find a role on completion of the course by introducing them to local facilities who are looking for staff.

Contact: training@lsv.com.au.

www.waterco.com April/May 2022 SPLASH! 57

news

Community

Aquatic facilities pitch in to help during flood crisis Aquatic and recreation facilities have risen to meet the challenge of the flood disaster in Queensland and northern New South Wales, offering a safe haven for a number of evacuees.

While their contribution to health and wellbeing as a sport venue is well-recognised, less well known is the invaluable community role they play during disasters.

In the hardest hit areas, aquatic centres have been turned into evacuation centres. They are offering more than just a safe place to sleep, with staff and volunteers supporting individuals and families as they come to terms with the traumatic events, including the loss of much-loved community members.

Royal Life Saving aquatics national manager RJ Houston says the industry is good in a crisis and keen to play its part in response and recovery.

“During an emergency, the aquatic facility transforms what is normally space for recreation into temporary emergency housing, camp kitchens and information centres,” Houston says.

“Much of this effort is led by volunteers from the facility’s workforce, the wider council and other agencies.”

Centres need recovery themselves

Once communities start to emerge from the immediate crisis and the focus shifts to recovery, aquatic centres will need to work through their own recovery strategy.

Brad Page coordinator of regional leisure venues at Moreton Bay Council says many local businesses including swimming pools and swim schools may need significant work in order to reopen.

“Two of our facilities, Settlement Lagoon and Dayboro Pool, were completely inundated and are expected

The scale of the floods was unprecedented

to remain closed for some time while repairs and cleaning occur,” Page says.

“Our remaining facilities are currently engaged in cleaning, treating the water, removing waste and assessing assets for damage before reopening to the public.”

Speaking of the impacts to the aquatic industry and the community, RLS CEO Justin Scarr says community infrastructure like aquatic and recreation centres, their staff and local volunteers are playing a critical role.

“For communities and an industry already battered by two and half years of smoke, fires, the covid-19 pandemic, worker shortages and now another 100-year flood event a decade after the last, this is another significant strain on the human and fiscal reserves needed to bounce back,” he says.

“What is clear is that community infrastructure, like aquatic facilities, can play an important role in disaster risk reduction and community resilience. We acknowledge and thank the aquatic industry workers and volunteers who are supporting communities across the east coast.”

In Brief The lifeguard shortage is not restricted to Australia, it is also being felt in the US. In Omaha for example, two-thirds of the city’s outdoor swimming pools have been shuttered at least for the first half of their summer because there aren’t enough lifeguards to safely monitor swimmers every day at all 15 locations. City officials cited the covid-19 pandemic as the primary cause of the shortage. After training courses were cancelled, the city lost an entire cycle of lifeguards in 2020.

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In the UK, 200 people were evacuated, 29 hospitalised and 48 treated at the scene when the London Olympic aquatic centre experienced a chlorine gas leak. The London Fire Brigade declared a major incident and sent a large team of emergency workers including 13 ambulance crews and members of its hazardous area response team.

Surrounding roads were cordoned off and members of the public were denied access to the park. The pool had been built for the 2012 Olympics and was opened to the public in 2014. Most of those affected reported minor breathing difficulties.

Swimming Australia (SA) has welcomed the decision by FINA to cancel the World Junior Championships in August and has made the decision to not send teams to any other events currently scheduled in Russia, including the FINA World Short Course Championships in December. The decision has been made with athlete and staff safety the priority, while also acknowledging the role sport must play within the international landscape. SA has strongly condemned the actions of the Russian Government in Ukraine, and says they will continue to monitor the situation ahead of the FINA World Championships in Budapest in June.

news

Installation

Melbourne art pond opens to public Pond[er], the winner of the NGV’s 2021 Architecture Commission, has opened to the public in the Grollo Equiset Garden, bringing the pastel hues of Australia’s inland salt lakes to Melbourne’s bustling civic spaces.

To achieve its intended pink tint, architectural firm Taylor Knights collaborated with a cork and access flooring supplier to create custom colours that mirror the hues found in the country’s iconic salt lakes.

“The main lighting of the installation is a recessed LED around its edge, defining the square and reinforcing the design reference of Sir Roy Ground’s open-air original courtyards,” says company director Peter Knights.

The 21.5 x 11.5-metre, 200mm deep public art project is designed to highlight the scarcity, importance and political implications of water as a natural resource.

“The striking beauty of Australia’s inland salt lakes inspired the creation of a space to stop, reflect and think about our current ecological adversities,” says director James Taylor.

“As architects, designers and artists, we have a fundamental responsibility to encourage our communities to begin to live, work and play in very different ways.”

Pond[er] will be on display until 28 October 2022 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Free entry.

Contact: ngv.melbourne

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www.naked-pools.com www.naked-pools.com April/May 2022 SPLASH! 59

feature

Inspiring commercial projects

Last edition we focussed on the 2021 National Commercial Project of the Year, Aloha Pool’s stunning steel and acrylic creation floating above an urban street. This edition we have a quick look at some other inspiring projects from last year’s awards.

Leader Pools The Kingsborough development is a unique community lifestyle precinct of 260 dwellings that explores the suburb’s industrial heritage. The precinct is enhanced by the two-lane 25-metre indoor/ outdoor lap pool with adjoining gym facilities and sauna.

AWARD: 2021 Commercial Project of the Year Finalist DESIGNER/LEAD: DNA Architects/Construction Control Australia IMAGES: Ben King Photography

Surfside Pools Commercial This serpentine 50-metre resort lagoon pool was built by Surfside Pools Commercial as part of the billion-dollar three-tower Jewel development on the Gold Coast.

AWARD: 2021 Commercial Project of the Year Finalist DESIGNER/LEAD: DBI Architects/Multiplex IMAGE: Paul Broben Photography

Aqua Technics Commercial This stunning pool was created by splicing two sides of a lap pool to create a flat floor pool design. To conceal the sliced joint it was recessed to allow for the addition of blue mosaic tiles.

AWARD: 2021 Fibreglass Commercial Pool up to $250,000 Gold 60

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Hydrilla The luxurious and indulgent leisure deck at Adelaide’s Skycity Casino is crowned with an elegant heated outdoor pool and spa built with utmost care and attention to detail. Bold sweeping curves, custom features and intricate white tiling demonstrate a masterclass in five-star construction and opulent finishes.

AWARD: 2021 Commercial Project of the Year Finalist; 2021 Commercial Pool up to $1,000,000 Gold DESIGNER/LEAD: Architect: Buchan/Builder: Hansen Yunken IMAGE: Russell Millard

Waterforms International The Yagan Square project has received great patronage from the public since completion. It incorporates six different water displays including interactive waterplay. The individual water displays are connected visually and provide a stimulating and interesting place to play for children and a tranquil and meditative environment for adults. The waterplay areas are easy for children to access and there are many areas where adults and the elderly can rest and enjoy the flow and jet effects of the water.

AWARD: 2021 Commercial Project of the Year Finalist; 2021 Commercial Water Display Gold DESIGNER/LEAD: Lyons Architects IMAGE: Hughbart Slotboom

SR Smith The Akvo moveable floor solution is made from a rigid 316L stainless steel, self-supporting floor driven by lifting columns called Spiralift. Innovative and hassle-free, this technology is very robust and can stand up to wear, chlorine and very heavy loads. The high load capacity of the moveable floor meets the international standard of 65 kg/m2, which can be easily increased with additional lifting columns. An adjustable system that can meet every need.

AWARD: 2021 Innovative Project Gold DESIGNER/LEAD/BUILDER: Brewster Hjorth Architects; Stevenson & Associates Pty Ltd; Crystal Pools

Momentum Pools Built in the stylish heart of Melbourne’s Chapel Street, this 25-metre lap pool defies gravity as it projects an impressive 17 metres out beyond the building line.

It is cantilevered for two-thirds of its length, vertically supported by two massive steel legs, counter weighed by the sheer mass of the 25-storey building, providing a remarkable sight to the Chapel Street pedestrians, five-storeys below.

AWARD: 2021 Commercial Pool up to $500,000 Gold IMAGES: Patrick Redmond Photography

April/May 2022 SPLASH! 61

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School carnival time is a joy for kids

The swimming carnival,

much more than a blue, red or green ribbon

By Justin Scarr Justin Scarr is the CEO of the Royal Life Saving Society Australia.

Here he recalls the joy of swimming carnivals.

A

fter the past two years, many of us were hoping for a more normal summer. A return to usual patterns of life.

School is now back.

Like most families we are juggling rapid antigen tests, receiving school covid-19 case reports, and hoping our son’s Year 12 is not like the Class of 2020 or 2021.

The beginning of the school year is usually school swimming carnival season.

It gives me flashbacks to Wentworthville Pool, in all its concrete and grassy hill glory.

It was a classic 1950s community swimming pool (since upgraded). Our carnival was no different to those of communities in suburbs across Australia.

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A day off class, a bag full of lollies, sunburn, houses cheering and parents volunteering as timekeepers.

For the two or three kids in each grade who were squad swimmers it was serious business.

For the rest of us, the highlight was free time swimming, novelty events or the teachers’ race.

I can’t remember too many kids sitting on the sidelines – our school had annual lessons. But then I was focused on beating Jason and Todd – the two kids in my grade who trained daily and wore speedos.

I have a box of ribbons, all green, to prove defeat, although I was the best of the kids in boardies, with no squad training and mostly government-funded school and vacation lessons.

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“Carnivals were at Auburn Pool. Even then I was shocked by the number of kids who signed up for races, dove in, only to be rescued because they were unable to swim.”

The nineties to the twenties

Fast forward to my school teaching years – the 1990s.

Carnivals were at Auburn Pool. Even then I was shocked by the number of kids who signed up for races, dove in, only to be rescued because they were unable to swim.

A primary school principal called me a few years ago, concerned that the carnival had gone from a keen competition across the age groups to one car full of kids who could make the distance and log a time to qualify for the next carnival.

In a school of 500 students, having only a few kids who could swim 50 metres is a desperate state.

I recall the principal wanted to provide catch-up lessons for those most at-risk. We funded a program that supplemented the Education Department lessons.

Fast forward (again) to today, February 2022, a school carnival season impacted by covid-19.

Pools in New South Wales and Victoria are reporting carnival cancellations of up to 50 per cent.

This means time trials for squad kids so they can complete onto the next carnival and no water time for the others. Another missed opportunity to build the lifelong skill of swimming.

Pools are also reporting that schools are slow to return to the pool and rebook their intensive swimming programs.

Towards 2023

There are green shoots. Victorian and New South Wales Education Departments have encouraged schools to reallocate funds to swimming lessons.

Voucher programs in those states are filling lessons blocks.

Royal Life Saving has been concerned for years about the 40 per cent of kids who leave primary school not being able to swim 50 metres – the length of an Olympic swimming pool.

Cancelled carnivals signal many things we should be concerned about.

First, they rob children of the joy of novelty races, or of cheering during the teachers’ race, and the reminder that the local pool is a fun place to play.

Second, cancelled carnivals serve as a reminder of the risks of dividing into two groups – those who can, and those who can’t swim.

Monitoring the 2023 school carnival season could provide indicators that we have regrouped and are heading towards avoiding the worst generational impacts of covid-19.

By 2023, we should be working to ensure that: • All schools host a swimming carnival or, better still, a swimming and lifesaving carnival; • We use that day to have fun, and benchmark children’s skills as a baseline for the generation that we are determined doesn’t miss out due to covid-19.

Because life is better when we swim.

And will be much better when we all swim. n

The excitement of cheering on your friends

It’s about more than winning races, it’s about the fun of being in the water with your friends

April/May 2022 SPLASH! 63

Commercial Pool Technician Program The program is based on the following units of competency; • SISCAQU001 - Test pool water quality The new Commercial Pool Technician Program (CPT) is proudly delivered by IRLearning and is endorsed by the peak swimming pool and spa industry body, SPASA Australia.

The Program meets the various requirements nationally for commercial pool technicians and those charged with maintaining lower risk levelled aquatic centres.

• SISCAQU003 - Maintain aquatic facility plant and equipment • SISCAQU004 - Develop and implement pool water maintenance procedures • SISCAQU005 - Develop and implement aquatic facility maintenance procedures • BSBRSK401 - Identify risk and apply risk management processes

From $380* *Visit www.irlearning.com to check state and territory requirements.

IRLearning also offers the full Certificate III and Certificate IV in Swimming Pool and Spa Service - as in some states (Victoria and Queensland) for higher risk pools, operators require the full qualification.

Wherever you want to go, IRLearning will help you get there!

The program covers: • Correct water testing procedures and recording results • Water quality issues and corrective actions • Microbiological testing procedures and parameters of safe operation.

• Responses to various bather incidents – faecal and non-faecal

Get Qualified through IRLearning and receive the Commercial Pool Technician Certificate.

Flexible delivery allows students to complete the CPT program via correspondence or face to face instruction (where offered).

• Disinfection requirements for commercial operations • Maintenance requirements of plant and equipment – including maintenance log completion and designing site-specific maintenance checklists and plans • Troubleshooting plant and equipment issues – initiating appropriate corrective actions • Record keeping for site-specific pool water testing and maintenance procedures • Having site-specific identification and management process to eliminate or minimise risk

Visit: www.irlearning.com | Call: 1800 802 482 Email: training@irlearning.com | RTO: 6235

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“With one in six people in Australia now living with a disability, the need for the program is greater than ever.”

Accessibility:

opening up aquatic services to all

W

hen my mother became a quadruple amputee after contracting meningitis in 2010, I soon became acutely aware of how the world isn’t built for people with disabilities.

Multi-storey buildings with no lifts. Restaurants accessible only by stairs. Narrow turnstiles at train stations.

While the universal design of physical structures can quite literally open doors for people with disabilities, it starts with a shift in mindset and attitude. And that starts with making things more accessible.

The one thing Mum loved and can no longer do is swim, due to the lack of adequate aquatic facilities in her area. The sad thing about that is, for people who live in wheelchairs like my mum, immersion in water is a joyful, healthy experience.

Therapeutic benefits of water

Swimming doesn’t just feel good but is also tonic for your mind and body. From a physiotherapy perspective, regular hydrotherapy activities can be used to treat myriad health conditions, ranging from sports injuries and neurological conditions to cardio problems and balance dysfunction.

Lilly Kochen from the Australian Physiotherapy Association says that the properties of water create different treatment options to those on land, as water is 792 times thicker than air, meaning body movement is resisted.

“The amount of resistance created is actually speed dependent. So, if an exercise is too easy, it can be easily progressed by moving a little faster.”

Buoyancy is another property of great value to physiotherapists and their clients. If part of the body is stiff or particularly weak, the principle of buoyancy can be used by a physiotherapist to assist a person’s movement.

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By Veda Dante

“I could do things in the water that I couldn’t do on land. I was swimming all the strokes four months after my injury, yet I couldn’t talk or walk yet.”

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Jamie-Lee Lewis wearing Cochlear’s Nucleus Aqua+ waterproof casing, protecting the Nucleus 6 Sound Processor when submerged in salt, fresh and chlorinated water

“Buoyancy also lessens the load on stiff and sore joints allowing movements that may be too painful to complete in land-based physiotherapy. The hydrotherapy pool allows for progressive reloading, essential for effective rehabilitation,” she says.

Hydrotherapy pools should run between 33.5 degrees and 34.5 degrees, which is known as the “thermoneutral” zone. This is the ideal temperature to maintain normal core body temperature when exercising during rehabilitation with a physiotherapist, to help manage pain, injury and disability.

“The functions of many body systems are influenced by the water temperature, and aquatic physiotherapists ascertain the implications of temperature on clients before starting in the pool,” Kochen says.

“Warmer water is often known for its relaxation and pain inhibition properties, whereas colder pools may be more appropriate for more intensive cardio-exercise programs.”

Warm water pool facilities have traditionally varied greatly in accessibility and proximity. Access has not been universal. In many states, purpose-built facilities have been affiliated with large regional and metropolitan public hospital networks. Local councils have a strong health and wellbeing mandate, and warm water pools have been increasingly included in metropolitan and regional community pool developments.

Recently, there has been significant growth in this area. Councils nationally are increasingly recognising the need for and value of investing in more local, warm water pool facilities with sustainable business models, to improve the health and wellbeing of their communities.

And they are benefiting from working on better designs through consultation with aquatic physiotherapists.

“All the research indicates that preventative medicine

The Health and Rehabilitation Centre at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital was designed to reflect the varied needs of its community. The ceiling track hoist system from pool to disabled change area nullifies manual handling issues of moving someone with severe disabilities

through regular exercise is a fundamental requirement for health and wellbeing,” says Kochen.

“This is supported by the World Health Organisation’s recommendations around exercise. Hydrotherapy pools are a safe, enjoyable, and ideal solution for many people with a range of abilities and conditions across their lifespan.”

Guidance and treatments by aquatic physiotherapists in the hydrotherapy pool further improve outcomes.

“A continued commitment to the development of well-built hydrotherapy pool facilities from local councils and health services alike as our population ages would be beneficial in supporting healthy communities,” she says.

Access and participation

Swimming is an important aspect of the Australian national identity — you may even say it’s part of our DNA. However, not everyone has easy access to getting involved. There are a number of barriers that need to be overcome.

Tracey Ayton, CEO and co-founder of Little Heroes Swim Academy, says there are a number of obstacles that prevent people with disabilities from accessing swim schools and facilities.

“For many, access to everything from parking and changing facilities to getting in and out of the water is a challenge,” she says. “There’s a shortage of specialised teaching programs, many of which are deemed private and therefore too expensive and unaffordable. There is also a lack of understanding of the needs of the students and families.”

The Little Heroes Swim Academy is inclusive because Ayton believes in giving everyone access to the same services.

“We work hard to provide aquatic education opportunities for students with a disability through our Heroes Disability Swim Program, which is subsidised by our mainstream learn-to-swim lessons,” she says.

“Our disability students learn vital water safety skills alongside our mainstream students, using an individual and holistic approach that engages and encourages relaxation, fun and most of all, how to be safer in the water.”

While some of her students will never learn to “swim”, Ayton says it does not mean that they should be denied access to the water.

“These students experience freedom in the pool that they may not otherwise experience on land, especially those living in wheelchairs for example,” she says.

“There is also the vital aspect of inclusion and social activity for them and their families. Swimming is also in general beneficial for their general health and wellbeing. Lung capacity, core strength, balance, fine and gross motor skills, communication, and participation. Children with ASD are attracted to the water and therefore water safety skills and awareness is crucial.”

Ayton is also the convenor of the Australian Swim School Association’s (ASSA’s) inclusion committee, and a member of the water safety committee.

“Water safety and inclusion are two things I am clearly passionate about, and both go hand-in-hand in the aquatic environment,” she says.

“These committees support ASSA swim school members with information to support water safety and inclusion in their swim schools.”

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Brooke Hanson helping out at the MATE program

Being a good MATE boosts accessible aquatics Austswim’s Making Aquatics a Terrific Experience (MATE) workshop program has quadrupled its course numbers and is now offering them nationally.

Olympic swimmer Brooke Hanson – an Austswim Ambassador and the SPLASH! 2022 keynote speaker – helped launch the MATE program 10 years ago. She says the aim remains the same: to make access to aquatics easier for people living with a disability, medical condition or injury.

“With one in six people in Australia now living with a disability, the need for the program is greater than ever,” she says.

“The workshops give people the information, skills and confidence to allow a person under their care to enjoy the water. There are so many developmental, physical, psychological, and emotional impacts swimming provides. Being in the water is a very levelling experience and this program promotes accessibility and encourages people to participate more in the aquatic industry.

“There will be close to 60 courses available across the country in 2022, adding to the hundreds and hundreds of people Austswim has already helped foster their love of the water since the program was created in 2012.”

Kids Alive managing director, Emma Lawrence, says the MATE program had been instrumental in helping more Australians enjoy the water and ensure families were safer in the water.

“We fully endorse Austswim’s MATE program as we personally know family members, carers, disability leaders, team leaders and early childcare educators who have completed the program, and it has enabled them to help young people they support discover a sense of freedom by being in the water more often,” Lawrence says.

“This program helps fulfill the cycle of water safety and education that is imperative to making people more confident and safer in the water, and thus impacting drowning statistics.”

The freedom of water Car crash survivor Ella Anwar knows the healing power that water has for people with a disability or injury. Two years ago, at the age of 20, she had an horrific car crash and suffered a major brain injury, with doctors saying she would never have mobility or communicate again.

“The doctors told my Mum I only had a 10 percent chance of survival,” she says. “So it’s a miracle I’m here. Getting in the water again made all the difference to my healing and has been one of the main reasons my injuries keep improving. It’s really changed my life.”

Anwar loved being in the water. Before the accident she was a swim teacher at Laurie Lawrence’s Swim School (LLSS) at Burleigh on the Gold Coast and an avid surfer.

“The minute my parents got me home they put me in the water again and it was amazing what happened. I could do things in the water that I couldn’t do on land. I was swimming all the strokes four months after my injury, yet I couldn’t talk or walk yet.

“I could kick my legs in the water, and it felt so good to move again! It made me feel free to be in the water and it really helped me feel better again. It gave me hope for the future and what I could do again and that I could one day resume my career as a swim instructor.”

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As well as her home pool, Anwar and her family regularly visit LLSS where she has been shadowing fellow teachers in learn-toswim classes, preparing for her return as a teacher. She is also using her skills to help her eight-month-old daughter Laia to swim.

“My dream is to get back into swim teaching when my daughter is older. But the most incredible thing is being able to teach her to swim myself and be with her in the water. We love going to the pool. We get to see friends, have fun in the pool with other kids and Mums. I feel the happiest when I am at the pool and with Laia. I am so passionate about the importance of learning to swim and water safety. It’s a vital life skill for everyone.

We love it.”

Anwar says the Austswim MATES program was so important because it helps people with a disability or injury like herself get back in the water.

“Water was my saviour after my accident and I never realised how much of a major part it would play in my life,” she says.

“Being in the water made my come back on land so much easier and gave me back independence. I’m in the pool every day now at home or at the local pool with Laurie, Emma, and the other teachers there.”

feature

ASSA’s inclusion committee will be presenting at its national conference, held as part of SPLASH! Week on the Gold Coast from June 21 to June 23. It will discuss the importance of creating a dedicated hub, known as Heroes House, for swim students with a disability and their families.

“Our charity and organisation have designed and built a swim school that caters to the needs of students with a disability as a priority. We opened Heroes House more than 16 months ago against all odds with covid closures and now have a permanent home for our students that caters exactly to their needs.”

The Road to Heroes House presentation will cover the journey of its creation and cover strategies in teaching and supporting students.

“The presentation will highlight our students and the strategies achieved to see them thrive in the water at their fullest potential,” says Ayton.

“We are a small team achieving mighty goals and making a difference in the lives of our students and families. Include Thrive Survive is our mantra.”

Tracey Ayton at the Little Heroes Swim Academy

A Little Heroes student

Swimmers with Down syndrome

When Sport Inclusion Australia and Down Syndrome Swimming Australia signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to promote opportunities for swimmers with Down syndrome, it signalled a new era of inclusion.

Established in 1986, AUSRAPID was formed to provide opportunities for people with integration difficulties, primarily intellectual disability.

Sport Inclusion Australia’s (SIA’s) vision is ‘community inclusion through sport’.

Working closely with national sporting organisations, SIA has been instrumental in ensuring that people with an intellectual impairment have opportunities to participate in the sport of their choice, and through their work with the Australian Paralympic Committee and the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS), athletes also have an elite competition pathway should they choose.

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Sydney’s urban beach Gunyama Park in Sydney provides fitness and leisure opportunities for people with disabilities. It offers a range of specialised features and facilities, including: • Changing Places accredited facility — this includes accessible bathroom facilities, easy pool access, pool hoists, water wheelchairs, hearing augmentation systems, lift access, and accessible gym equipment. It also means the changing and toilet facilities are secure and tidy, and designed to meet the needs of people who require space and assistance, and for those where a generic toilet is not suitable.

• Access into the pools — all pools have ramp access and a shallow decline.

If required, the lap pool is accessible by pool hoist located near the shallow end of the 50-metre pool.

• Entrance ramp – located at the main entrance.

• Access Key — curated by healthcare professionals, it includes assistance with coloured photographs, supportive text, a visual communication board as well as sensory elements of experiences.

Opened last year, Gunyama Park is on of the most accessible public pools built in Sydney

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Down Syndrome Swimming Australia (DSSA) was formed in 2004 – formerly Down Syndrome Swimming Down Under – to enable swimmers to compete in quality international competition.

In 2017, INAS and SIA expanded their charter to include athletes with an intellectual disability and significant additional impairment (Down syndrome) along with athletes with high-functioning autism. These changes initiated discussions between SIA and DSSA to work in collaboration to ensure better opportunities and resourcing was provided to swimmers with Down syndrome.

DSSA gives people with Down syndrome the opportunity to swim competitively against other athletes and to provide a pathway to local, national, and international competition. The organisation encourages individuals with Down syndrome to actively participate in the great sport of swimming at all levels of competency.

Every second year, an Australian team competes internationally at the World Swimming Championships. The Australian team has won Champion Country and Top Female and Male Swimmers, against teams from 24 other countries at these international championships – as well as an abundance of medals at each competition. The championships create opportunities for athletes with Down syndrome to compete in international sporting events, offering them a fair and equal opportunity to be successful. n

Can you use your NDIS funds for swimming lessons?

Occasionally, the NDIS will fund swimming lessons in their entirety. However, as swimming lessons are deemed necessary for all children (not just those with a disability), the NDIS will most commonly fund the difference in cost between a group and a 1:1 lesson, if it can be justified as to why the individual needs 1:1 support in the water. Your occupational therapist and/or behaviour specialist can help with this justification.

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The SR Smith Mobile Aquatic Chair enables individuals with disabilities to control the lift as it lowers them into the water

Contacts:

ASSA: www.australianswimschools.org.au Austin Repatriation Pool: www.austin.org.au Australian Physio: www.australian.physio Autism Swim: www.autismswim.com.au Disability Sports Australia: www.sports.org.au Down Syndrome Swimming Australia: www.dssa.org.au Gunyama Aquatic Centre: www.gunyamapark.com.au Little Heroes: www.littleheroesswimacademy.org MATE courses: www.austswim.com NDIS: www.ndis.gov.au SIA: www.sportinclusionaustralia.org.au SR Smith: www.srsmith.com.au Swimming Australia: www.swimming.org.au

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new products

Pentair’s new inverter heat pump

The Pentair UltraTemp HXi heat pump automatically heats or cools a pool according to the desired temperature and offers auto defrost.

It adapts to outdoor conditions to ensure optimum bathing comfort while minimising energy consumption.

Pentair says it delivers powerful yet quiet energy-efficient performance, thanks to the combination of a variable speed compressor and fan motor that adjust their speed automatically following the operating mode selected by the user via the intuitive colour LCD touchscreen or optional app. Wi-fi module included, compatible with app freely available on app store.

Contact: www.pentairpool.com.au

New AstralPool Halo Connect range

Fluidra says their new AstralPool Halo Connect range of products will bring greater ease of installation and set-up, and provide connectivity across the pool pad like never before.

The AstralPool Halo range consists of: Halo Chlor in 4 sizes 18, 25, 35, 45G outputs; Halo Doser add-on acid feeder with or without sensors; Halo Bluetooth Sensors, pH and gold tip ORP for balance and chlorine control; Halo Hub automation module with GPOs, valve control, temp sensor inputs and more; Halo Xpand automation module with GPOs and temp sensor inputs; Halo Lite 2 and Lite 4 light controllers, used as standalone or within the Halo system.

Contact: www.astralpool.com.au/halo-connect-system

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View our online video showing common pool fencing faults and how to spot them at View our online video showing common pool fencing faults and how to spot them at www.kidshealth.chw.edu.au/projects/drowning-prevention/swimming-pool-fencing

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new products

Seko IoT-enabled systems

Seko is a world leader in the design and manufacture of chemical dosing pumps and control systems for every conceivable application within the water-treatment sector, with innovative solutions for indoor and outdoor swimming pools of every size.

Seko’s products include IoT-enabled systems that allow technicians and end-users to monitor chlorine consumption and water quality 24/7 from any location courtesy of dedicated smartphone apps.

With live and historical data at their fingertips, operators can reduce chlorine consumption, optimise chemical performance and improve water safety for a healthier, more efficient pool.

Contact: www.seko.com

Theralux launches new website

Theralux has launched new branding and a new website.

Theralux marketing manager Marcelle Benjamin says the new‑look website has been designed with the main goal of providing dealers and customers with a more intuitive and user‑friendly experience.

“The website has an aspiring contemporary look and engaging features, which makes the overall user experience more impactful,” he says.

“It features an advanced online calculator, which includes a mineral testing reader, new automation and dual sanitation technology and customised mineral packs to meet all end user needs.”

Contact: www.theralux.com.au

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