Water clarity and conservation paramount for Dubai swimming pool
Located within the Pyramids Wafi, part of the renowned Wafi City Shopping & Entertainment complex in Dubai, the Pharaoh’s Club is one of the emirate’s premier and largest fitness centres. A major drawcard of the centre is the outdoor, free form ‘lazy river’ and swimming pool, which is designed for relaxation, aqua aerobics classes, swimming laps and professional swimming lessons.
In 2012 the club made the decision to update the filtration system of the 10-year-old, 1600m3 pool. The club manager spoke with the leading Dubai swimming pool maintenance company, Those Pool Guys, which in turn contacted international swimming pool equipment manufacturer, Waterco.
“The filters were near the end of their working life and needed to be replaced,” explains the general manager of “Those Pool Guys”. “The existing filtration system, which consisted mainly of metal fabricated tanks, was leaking and the filtration quality was very poor.
“The club had a number of key requirements; in particular achieving a high level of filtration without having to change the existing set up of the plant room. Another requirement was a solution which would conserve water.”
Combined solution
Taking into consideration the club’s needs, Waterco and “Those Pool Guys” suggested a combined solution – Lacron 42” horizontal filters, Waterco MultiCyclones, plus Waterco Glass Pearls to replace the existing sand filtration media.
“The Lacron HZC filter is specifically designed for installations which require a high filtration surface area, which obviously the Pharaoh’s Club pool has,” Tony Fisher, managing director of Waterco Europe explains. “The main tank structure is made from extremely hardwearing glass reinforced polyester, and the unique lateral underdrain and looped header design ensures optimum water filtration and balanced fluidisation of the filter bed during backwashing.”
Six Lacron filters along with a number of Waterco boobin wound filters were installed, in addition to 18 MultiCyclone 16s, Waterco’s award-winning prefiltration devices. These work on the basis of centrifugal water filtration and are created to minimise filter maintenance and save water.
“The filters and MultiCyclones are designed to work seamlessly and effectively together – and to further enhance the filtration quality and water saving benefits, we also recommended using Glass Pearls instead of the existing sand filter media,” says Fisher.
Manufactured from 100% virgin glass and being only 0.6mm by 0.8mm in size, Waterco’s Glass Pearls offer much finer filtration than other alternatives and are therefore capable of providing outstanding water purity and clarity (filtration below 3 microns). The spherical shape also results in low friction levels, also reducing the need to backwash and saving pool owners both time and precious water. In fact, Waterco Glass Pearls require 20 per cent less water for backwashing compared to sand.
Significant benefits
The benefits of the combined systems have been significant, both aesthetically and financially. “There has been a major reduction in the club’s water and chemical bill, and water clarity has been greatly enhanced,” Fisher says.
“According to the club manager, club members have even commented on how much better the water quality looks and that it has a ‘sparkle’ about the water.”