New Villager offers suggestion about operation of swimming pools

To the Editor:

As a rather new resident who is enjoying all The Villages has to offer, I have noticed with the warm weather, the water temperatures in the pools can climb quite high. There is nothing unusual at all about this, but a fairly simple solution could be applied that might help. A very basic fountain can often do the trick.

Obviously, we need nothing loud, obnoxious, or frankly expensive, but rather, a simple sprinkler-style fountain could make a big difference. The idea is to allow heat transfer via the latent heat of vaporization to drive down the pool temperature closer to the dew point, also known as the wet-bulb temperature. Running it only a short time during the cooler late evening or early morning could do the trick. And, manufacturers even make small fountains that attach to the effluents of the already operating pool filter loops.

This “solution” would, of course, cause a bit more evaporative water loss than is occurring today, but I suspect dropping the temperature 5 or 10 degrees would make this a decent trade-off. Perhaps we have a few retired engineers in the readership who might be interested in putting a cost to this idea. With modern automation, I’m sure a simple system could be devised that would monitor both pool water temperature and relative humidity levels to minimize any waste and maximize efficiency.

Just a thought. I welcome any feedback on this idea. Perhaps it has already been tried here without success, or maybe I am underplaying the water loss involved. I know there is a drought, and this is outside my area of expertise. Either way, stay cool out there, folks.

John Smith
Village of Fenney