Hamlin Pools has a long history of  water treatment. In the early 50’s and 60’s the Rio Grand Valley’s primary source of water was the Rio Grande River. The river’s water was pumped into a canal system that runs through out the valley and residents either drew directly from these canals or were fortunate enough to be able to tap into a treated water line. In those early days Hamlin Pools did a significant amount of rural water treatment installations. These were basically mini-water plants. They typically included a gunited cistern for storage and settling, a gravity flow filtration system, a PSI tank and a chlorinator. Rural water treatment systems and their construction were a perfect compliment to our swimming pool construction, maintenance and service business.

Over the years we continued to see a decline in the quality of source water our water plants were forced to deal with. This was primarily a result of the growth of population and industry along both sides of the river. The poor water quality became an issue and was highlighted in many news articles and studies done along the Rio Grande River. Water Plants were forced to make changes in their treatment methods. Government Standards continued to increase requirements on the proper treatment of potable water to assure its safety. Hamlin Pools made a decision to close our raw water treatment division and focus on improving the quality of water cities could not financially afford to address. The regulations being implemented to improve water safety left little or no funds for cities to deal with the issue of high solids, salts, taste or oder. In the early 60’s we added softeners to our water treatment line to help deal with the high calcium levels commonly found in the Rio Grande. High calcium causes many problems in the home and on a swimming pool as well. In the early 70’s we added RO (reverse osmosis) to deal with taste and oder and other concerns with common drinking water. Water softeners combined with an RO are a great combination for the improvement in the quality of water our homes receive. Softeners improve the performance and life of home appliances and add life to the membrane of an RO. The RO removes taste, order, chlorine and 85% to 95% of TDS from City water. This high quality of water, at your sink, is a clear benefit for those tired of buying bottled water.

It is very interesting to see and read the developments occurring in the Water Treatment Industry and how closely they correlate to the same issues we have in the treatment of water in Pools.  Pentair, who is one of our partners in the manufacture of swimming pool equipment, has a major division of its organization dedicated to the sole function of world wide water treatment.

Water is incredibly powerful. The erosive and corrosive power of water created the Grand Canyon, yet without water, life as we know it would not exist. Knowing the incredible power of water we all have an opportunity to educate ourselves about the additional benefits it can provide particularly as it impacts our homes and pools.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/02/09/antibiotic-resistance-wastewater/