A SureWater Christmas

Cudos to the Avant-Garde

Is there a particular reason that we keep seeing our users in the news for top performance recognition? Is it just chance that these facilities keep scoring accolades for their organizations. I'm not suggesting that it is because they are using SureWater products that they are garnering recognition, but there is an interesting correlation. SureWater users tend to operate within the realm of the avant-garde. Innovation is the hallmark of these people who search for the "best" answer to an issue, not just any answer. People who are motivated to go above and beyond in seeking solutions for the future, not just to get through to tomorrow. Courageous people, who strive to open pathways through political and industrial bureaucratic terrain for their peers to follow.

Wikipedia took this definition of avant-garde from encyclopedia.com and I love how it frames the innovators in our industry. The term, "avant-garde", was originally used to describe the foremost part of an army advancing into battle (also called the vanguard) and now applies to any group that considers itself innovative and ahead of the majority. It goes on, the vanguard, a small troop of highly skilled soldiers, explores the terrain ahead of a large advancing army and plots a course for the army to follow. Great word picture! This is exactly what the avant-garde in the recreational water industry are doing every day in their respective work places and industry networks. They apply this attitude to every aspect of their jobs. This is why you will not only find them employing cutting edge technologies in their pump rooms, but you will also find innovation uniquely present in every element of their operation. Does everyone who operates in the realm of the avant-garde receive recognition for this attribute? Not hardly! But recognition is superfluous to the avant-garde. Above all is service. Service to their industry, service to their employer, and service to themselves. Nothing more, nothing less will do.

I see it as part of my job to high light some of the successes of our users that might otherwise and unfortunately go unnoticed. Congratulations to the Fox Valley Park District in Aurora, IL for receiving theGold Medal Award (Class II) for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management presented by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration at the recent NRPA Congress in Salt Lake City, UT. Special cudos goes out to the Fox Valley Aquatics Staff for their leadership and dedication to innovation in the field of Aquatic Facility Management. A long term user of SureWater Technologies feed systems, Fox Valley very successfully utilizes both "The Solution" for disinfection purposes and "The Solution X-2" for pH control in all of their indoor and outdoor swimming pools.

Fox Valley's Splash Country Waterpark



Congratulations are also in order for the Chaos Waterpark Resort in Eau Claire, WI for being selected by Aquatics International Magazine as the Best Waterpark Resort in their 2009 Best of Aquatics Competition. Chaos Waterpark, an exiting new themed attraction of the Metropolis Resort, employs SureWater High Capacity Feed Systems as an integral component of their innovative "green-friendly" strategy to facility management and resource conservation. Special thanks and congrats to Barry Thompson of the Metropolis Resort and Al Neumann of AJ Contract Services in Wausau for their avant-garde approach to water quality and facility management!

Chaos Waterpark Resort



Who will be the next wave in the Aquatics Avant-Garde? Forge on people!

SureWater Users Among World's "Top Waterparks" in 2009

Aquatics International released it's list of the 25 Top Waterparks in the world for 2009 and once again it includes several users of SureWater Technologies Feed Systems. The parks, ranked by their 2008 estimated attendance, include five long-term users of "The Solution" High Capacity Vacuum Induction Sodium Hypochlorite Feed System. In addition to the four parks repeating (see 2008 AI Top 20 Waterparks), one additional user, Wild Wadi in Dubai, UAE has made the list in the #11 position.

Congratulations to all of this year's Aquatics International Top Waterparks for your tremendous efforts. To our users, thanks for choosing "The Solution" to Be Sure for your guests!

Showcase Alive!

Have a look at some more of your fellow High Capacity Feed user installations in our latest Showcase Alive slide video.

High Capacity Feed...How Supply Meets Demand!

Water Quality Facts with Monona Rossol

Chemist and industrial hygienist Monona Rossol discusses current recreational water quality issues on New York Public Radio's Leonard Lopate Show. Very interesting and practical discussion relevant for all Aquatics Professionals. Listen in to Plumbing the Depths on the station's site, or directly on the YouTube link below and comment on your thoughts (4:31 run time).

Installation Showcase

Grapeland Heights Park Black Beard's Beach Waterpark
Three Systems: (2) Water Activity Pools, (1) Rec Pool
City of Miami, Florida
Installation by Commercial Energy Specialists
Jupiter, Florida

SureWater User Facilities Recognized by Athletic Business Magazine

Athletic Business magazine sponsors their Annual Architectural Showcase, recognizing the best in recently constructed athletic, recreation and fitness facilities around the world. Athletic facilities are spotlighted in a broad array of categories with many Aquatics facilities mentioned each year.

Recent Showcase facilities include several SureWater Technologies users. Included in this list are the Montgomery County Recreation (Boyds, MD) Germantown Indoor Swim Center, the City of Miami Grapeland Heights Park Black Beard's Beach Waterpark in Florida,



Miss Porter's School Squash and Swim Center in Farmington, CT, the North Myrtle Beach Aquatic & Fitness Center in South Carolina, and the Fox Valley Recreation (Aurora, IL) Vaughan Athletic Center.



Congratulations to all of these Architectural Showcase inductees and thanks for making "The Solution" your feed system of choice!

Showcase Alive!

Show off your stuff! Send us pics of your installs for the next Showcase Alive!

Oh No, Crypto!

"With a Purposeful Grimace and a Terrible Sound
He Pulls the Spitting High Tension Wires Down

Helpless People On a Subway Train
Scream Bug-eyed As He Looks in On Them

He Picks Up a House and He Throws It Back Down
As He Wades Through the Buildings Toward the Center of Town

Oh No, They Say He's Got to Go, Go Go Godzilla
Oh No, There Goes Tokyo, Go Go Go Crypto"

The whimsical lyrics to Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla" spring immediately to mind as I read on and on about the dreaded Cryptosporidium! These lyrics take on a somewhat profound yet intentionally humorous meaning as the words "Go Crypto" are substituted for "Godzilla".

Regrettably, crypto is no laughing matter. In fact, it is a very real and menacing "intruder" when it finds it's way into our drinking or recreational waters. It wreaks havoc on an unsuspecting intestinal system in much the same way Godzilla did (on film) in the streets of Tokyo. And like Godzilla, crypto is tough to kill. As a result, practitioners within our industry have found themselves in a precarious situation, grasping for an effective weapon to eliminate this foe. The notorious "creature" is loose in the "streets" of our swimming pools and as the minister of defense we've got to decide if, and/or when to call out the heavy artillery.

Just when it seemed that Godzilla would bring utter and complete devastation, the inhabitants of Tokyo would turn up the defensive heat, driving him back into the sea from which he came. We can, and must do the same thing with Crypto. That is, turn up the "heat"! In our case, the "heat" is ORP. Yes, Oxidation Reduction Potential, or qualitative kill power. True heavy artillery in the on-going pathogen battle!

Crypto is a formidable opponent, but it is not the nearly indestructible "monster" it is portrayed as by some. There is well documented scholarly research giving evidence to the fact that it is readily and fully deactivated in as little as 30 to 120 minutes when exposed to a sustained ORP level of 800 to 865 mV. Kent Williams, Executive Director of the PPOA has long been hailing us with this fact from his "soap box", the Pumproom Press (please see PrP Issue 4, Fecal Water Balance: It Happens Every Day; PrP Extra Summer 1998, The Dreaded E. Coli bacterium; PrP Issue 6, Tech Talk: Crypto Update; PrP, Crypto Makes the News Again!).

When you're making a choice from the available water treatment arsenal, which would you rather; a weapon of mass destruction with a timely result, or a "fixed" weapon which kills only passers-by one at the time? I'm talkin' 30 minutes to 2 hours Contact Time (CT) with a system that is capable of delivering continuous ORP elevation (i.e. high capacity venturi feed) as opposed to 6 to 24 hours with "outboard" treatment systems (i.e. Ozone, UV). It's all good, but those of you with "The Solution" know what I mean!

"Godzilla's" lyrics repetitively finish...

"History Shows Again and Again
How Nature Points Out the Folly of Men"

Folly can be defined as a costly and foolish undertaking; an unwise investment or expenditure. Let's not let history prove nature right with this sobering indictment! We're not looking down the barrel at Godzilla here, right?!

(Click on title at top for BOC's Godzilla Live!)

"An Ounce of Prevention..."

Benjamin Franklin is one of the most quotable people ever to color the pages of our American history. A few of his most memorable quotes include, "A penny saved is a penny earned", "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise", and "God helps them that help themselves". Haven't you recently heard one of these in conversation yourself? He was a practical man; knowledgeable and useful in many disciplines. Although not a "pool guy", as far as we know, I believe he would be a profound advocate of preventative maintenance in the pump room today. His quote,

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

should be posted on the wall in the work space of every pool operator. Expending "an ounce of prevention" is essential to realizing that "pound of cure" for operators with "The Solution" on their wall.

The hard part is in remembering to routinely perform a preventative task when the demand hardly seems regular. I'm referring to that "once every so often" acid washing of the venturi. A great way to remind ourselves of regular tasks is to schedule them, right? Knowing when a task was last performed also adds to the level of awareness and further assures timely performance in the future. This is especially helpful when there are multiple parties responsible for completing the same task. Our friends at The City of Henderson (NV) have taken this concept one more step in placing a "last cleaned" notification directly on the face of their feeders. Very practical! The best thing about it is that this method removes the guessing and helps eliminate the eventual foreseeable venturi clogs. How's that for "an ounce of prevention"?

We like this idea so much that we're considering incorporating it as standard issue. Let us know what you think of this helpful hint with your comments!

Model Aquatic Health Code

You are probably aware of the movement toward the development of a national model aquatic health code (MAHC) for recreational water venues, but did you know that you can participate in the process as well? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently taking applications for individuals who are interested in serving on technical committees to address future modules of this code. Go to http://www.cdc.gov/healthyswimming/MAHC/model_code.htm to download the application packet and review background information, vision and objective statements, as well as a diagram of the sequence of events being undertaken as part of the MAHC development process.

In October, the CDC released the MAHC “Strawman”, an overall outline of the envisioned MAHC. In addition, modules covering the first three chapters of the MAHC including the Preface, User Guide, and Definitions were included. A fourth module, providing guidance for responding to Fecal/Vomit/Blood contamination incidents is also available at the same link, www.cdc.gov/healthyswimming/MAHC/pdf/announcements/20081010_MAHC_news.pdf.

Encouraging Texas Public Pool Council members to get involved, Tom Vyles of the Plano (TX) Health Department said,

"before you think you are not qualified, take a look at the whole thing (MAHC Structure and Content). You may have some skills or expertise they need."

True too that we don't often have the opportunity to play a part in national policy making. Here's an opportunity to contribute to the model code your state's DOH may very well consider adopting in the future. A worth while consideration for sure!