The SPLASH! Environmental Awards 2010
The 2010 SPLASH! Environmental Awards were held at a gala event on the Gold Coast, hosted by Olympian Steve Bradbury, who took the crowd through their paces in a series of grueling and funny tests.
SPLASH! Environmental Project of the Year: Gosford Olympic Pool
The project is a renovation of a 1950s public Olympic outdoor swimming pool on the New South Wales Central Coast. As with many pools of this age, the Gosford Olympic Pool faced the challenge of an aging infrastructure and needed to lessen the impact of the pool operations on the environment while fulfilling the demands of the local community.
By establishing a sophisticated Triton backwash plant which includes a reverse osmosis system and a 170,000 litre water storage system, the water requirements of the swimming pool have been reduced by an enormous 90 per cent. It is estimated that the combined system will save more than 4 million litres of town water each year. This is especially beneficial as Gosford area has suffered from severe water shortages.
Additionally, the renovation reduced the energy requirements for the pool by installing a solar heating system and using high quality pool blankets which enables the pool to shut down the boiler from October through to March each year, while maintaining the pool water at the desired 25-26 degrees. Additionally, a new gas heater with a titanium heat exchanger was added to the system.
They are in the process of adapting the solar system so it can also heat the indoor pool water, resulting in a further 50 per cent reduced requirement for the gas boiler.
The judges were impressed that this type of renovation could be applied to existing pools of a similar age – of which there are a great number across Australia. Therefore, this project could have a very substantial influence on water and energy use in the aquatics industry.
SPLASH! Environmental Product of the Year: Waterco for the MultiCyclone
An average sand filter may use more than 8000 litres for backwashing each a year. This can be vastly reduced by using the cyclonic pre-filter, which itself only needs 15 litres of water to purge. Potential water savings are estimated at about 7000 litres per year for an average pool.MultiCyclone is an Australian innovation which filters the water prior to it going to the main filters, reducing the load on the filter and therefore the amount of backwashing required.
The judges were impressed that this product is economically priced and as such is something that most existing and new pool owners could benefit from.
Special mention: Pentair for Intelliflo VF
The judges also wanted to make sure Pentair received a special mention for its Intelliflo VF pump
Pool Shop Award: Poolside Frankston
Poolside Frankston won a Highly Commended in the 2008 Awards, and this time they’ve come back with some more activities under their belt. In the intervening time they have increased their commitment to spreading the word about environmental friendly practices and products for pool owners in person, in the press and also through the electronic media. For example, the shop owner has been a special guest on 3AW, promoting the Water Neutral Pool Shop program and answering questions about environmental practices in the industry.
