Underwater reparations

As a novelty here, today Antonio is doing some underwater reparations, fixing some underwater lights using an air-powered drill. In this way, it is possible to repair without having to empty the pool.

Some underwater lights in the swimming pool were damaged because there is one or two vandals that pull them out, breaking their plastic fixations, talk about strange ways to have fun. Well, anyway, we now have to fix them hard with inox screws.

Refreshing in aquagym

Today is an extremely hot day, and the aquagym lesson is a good way to make some sport without becoming too tired.

Cleaning an area

We had a 'bad area' at the end of street 19, where some old caravans and mobilhomes were used as lodging for workers that had to sleep inside the campsite, mostly cleaning ladies that came from far away. This area was not giving a nice image to that part of the campsite, and in an effort to ammeliorate that image, we have removed all these old equipment, cleaned and made sure that the soil is flat and adecuate. As a result, we have now an empty area that looks enough good for parking and other uses, this area is going to be called 'Sector Dur' (in catalan, 'hard sector') because there is no grass.

New bicycle parkings

Vadim has just finished installing 2 new bicycle parkings at two entrances to the swimming pool: one beside the door near the river (see the picture), the other beside the petanca. As you can see, they are of the same type that we have been using in the last years.

Machine room now fully finished

As promised, here is how the machine room looks today, fully finished. Attached to he wall at the far end, you can see the devices that produce chlorine from salt, i.e., salt chlorinators. At the right side you see the pumps and filters. On the left side you see the light control system, more about that in the next weeks.

In order to desinfect the water, we add salt to it, and afterwards the water goes throught a salt chlorination process that uses electrical current to convert it to hypochlorous acid, a form of chlorine. Theoretically, it takes less of this purer, more effective chemical to sanitize the water and maintain a safe free chlorine level than with other forms of chlorine. It also eliminates the caustic acid that is present in liquid pool chlorine, or the inert ingredients that are a part of granular and tablet chlorine.

The salt level needed to produce chlorine is only about 3,000 ppm, which is less salt than is contained in the average human tear, and about 1/17 the salt found in sea water. A nice side effect is that the salt softens the water, giving it a smoother feel for swimmers.

This desinfection method has recently become popular in the private pools, also because of the easy of dealing with salt, avoiding dangerous chemicals. But it is not so popular among public swimming pools, althought the trend is towards it, as salt chlorinators are becoming more powerful.

One of the last signs

Vadim is fixing one of the last signs that were not yet positioned, this one is located in the south-east access to the new pool. You can see, farther in the picture, a garbage bin that is still waiting to be properly fixed.
Meanwhile, the machine room needs some signs and last touches, to be done during this next week.

Garbage bins around the pool

Pep is right now preparing the concrete bases for the garbage bins that are to be located all around the new pool. We expect to put three bins in the south side and four bins in the north side. The all are of a mixture of metal and wood decoration.

More plants around the pool

The area of the swimming pool nearer to the supermarket is being filled with plants and grass. Here you can see a gardener making holes for the new plants, in this case a few 'Callistemon speciosus'. There are a lot of  'Rosmarinum rostrata' and in general plants that are considered as appropiate to the mediterranean weather and to the natural park around us.

Gradually opening grass areas

In the swimming pool, today we have opened the grass area in the south side. In about one week we will open the west side, nearer to the supermarket. The north side will require some three more weeks.

Today is a typical sunny, hot day and it seems that people really enjoy the fresh water.

Putting the double floor in the machine room

After some weeks waiting for the material, the smiths are finally putting the aluminium layer in the floor, making it much more practical to move inside the machine room.