Photo: Creative Water Solutions
In today’s New York Times’ Green Inc. blog, I write about a literally green pool cleaner that could upend a $3 billion industry:
As its license plates proclaim, Minnesota is the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Now a Minneapolis-area company says it has figured out the secret to the state’s famously crystalline watering holes: moss.
Specifically, species of sphagnum moss that the startup, Creative Water Solutions, envisions will keep tens of thousands of swimming pools clean while drastically reducing the use of chlorine and other harsh chemicals.
The patented treatment system, which the company has sold for backyard swimming pools since 2007, underwent its first large-scale commercial test this summer at a public aquatic complex in St. Paul.
“I think this is going to have a dramatic effect and change the whole aquatic industry,” said Thomas Schaffer, a 35-year pool industry veteran hired by the City of St. Paul to monitor the moss treatment of an Olympic-size pool and a smaller children’s pool. “We saw a one-third decline in chlorine demand for the water immediately. We’re now using two-thirds less chlorine.”
You can read the rest of the story here.
Green Wombat 
This is a great idea. We also have a solution to reduce chlorine AND energy use. All the pieces together will help to reduce the impact of pools on the environment. Our blog is at http://www.solarpooltech.wordpress.org and our corporate website is at http://www.solar-breeze.com