Swimming Upstream

Anyone who has ever owned a swimming pool knows about being a slave to chlorine. Not only does the hapless pool owner have to buy the expensive chemical and lug it home for bi-weekly applications, but also has to endure the stinging eyes, damaged hair, bleached clothing and nasty smell that goes along with it. The tradeoff has always been that chlorine works as advertised in killing bacteria and preventing algae from forming.

Brian Cohen of Environmental Working Group (EWG) says chlorine diluted in swimming pool water is probably not a human health threat. But chlorine is a harsh chemical whose use as a bleaching agent in the paper industry has polluted many rivers and streams (see "The Dead Pigeon River," Currents, May/June 1997). Fortunately, swimming pools and chlorine don't have to go together. There are no less than three natural alternatives to this time-honored chemical. And according to Archie Beaton, executive director of the Illinois-based Chlorine-Free Products Association, each of them uses a totally different approach.

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