Knowledge for owners, operators and designers
Background on the choices that determine how a pool performs over its lifetime. Factual, with sources, and clear about where the evidence stops.
Choices that last thirty years
A pool is built for decades. Decisions made in the first months, such as construction method, gutter, circulation and air handling, determine what it costs to run, how healthy it is for swimmers and staff, and how long it lasts. In these articles we share what we know from our own projects and from Myrtha’s research, including the independent studies and their limits. Where the evidence is thin, we say so.
Articles
Knowledge articles
Stainless steel or concrete?
A factual comparison of stainless steel and concrete pools: build time, construction cost, lifecycle, weight, sustainability and total cost.
Ventilation and air quality
How chloramines form, what they mean for the health of staff and swimmers and for the lifetime of the pool building, and which measures help.
Sustainability
Embodied carbon, transport, renovation instead of demolition, recycling and certification: what a stainless steel pool contributes to sustainability, and what it does not.
Maintenance and lifecycle cost
How the construction method affects maintenance, closures and renovation over the life of a pool, with the evidence and its limits.
Renovate or rebuild?
Signs that a pool needs work, when renovation makes sense, when rebuilding is better, and what renovation involves.
Pool design for architects
Structural independence, weight, locations, programme, BIM and technical data of Myrtha pools for architects and engineers.
Frequently asked questions
Answers about EWAC Pools, Myrtha, stainless steel pools, renovation, movable floors, medical pools and service.
How does a movable pool floor work?
The operator selects a depth for lessons, aqua fitness or training. At its highest position, the floor turns the pool into a walkable surface. How this is achieved differs between systems. The choice affects what must be prepared in the pool shell, how maintenance works and whether the floor can go into an existing pool.1.…
Teaching pool with a movable floor
Many new municipal pool plans in the Netherlands and Flanders include a teaching pool with a movable floor. Examples are Koksijde (a 25 m pool widened to 16 m, with a movable floor), Beuningen and Sint-Katelijne-Waver. The reason is practical: a teaching pool has many user groups, and each needs a different water depth.A teaching…
Movable pool floor cost: what drives it
A movable floor is always made to measure, and Myrtha itself says the cost is determined “case by case”. That is not an evasion: two pools of the same area can differ widely in drive type, depth range and preparation of the pool shell. We deliberately give no figures here. Below are the choices that…
Renovating a sports pool without demolition
Water loss that evaporation or backwashing cannot explain.Loose or cracked tiles and joints, and recurring repairs.An overflow gutter that no longer works well or no longer meets current requirements.Damage to the concrete or the reinforcement.A pool that no longer fits its use: competition length outside tolerance, no room for touch pads, a depth unsuited to…
Competition pool dimensions and requirements
World Aquatics publishes its pool requirements in the Competition Regulations, Part Two, article 15. The Swimming Pool Certification document has applied since 1 April 2026, and the figures on this page come from it. With touch pads at both ends, exactly 50.000 m remains between the pads.SituationRequirement (World Aquatics, CR Part Two, 15.2)50 m, distance…
The municipal swimming pool project
1. Feasibility and vision. The municipality decides what swimming provision it needs for the coming decades: which user groups (lessons, clubs, schools, leisure), how much water, and whether the existing pool can be renovated or must be replaced. The first choices on operation and budget are made here.2. Brief. The brief (in Dutch: programma van…
Swimming pool subsidies in the Netherlands and Flanders
Last checked: 28 September 2026. This page is for information only and is not subsidy advice. The scheme and the body that runs it always take precedence. The specific grant for sport (SPUK) compensates municipalities for VAT they can no longer deduct on investments in sport. It covers the development and upkeep of sports facilities,…
Public pool regulations in the Netherlands and Belgium
This is an overview, not legal advice. Consult the official sources and the competent authority. Until 2024, the Act and Decree on hygiene and safety in bathing facilities (Whvbz) applied. They were repealed on 1 January 2024. The rules are now in chapter 15 of the Environmental Activities Decree (Bal), under the activity “providing opportunities…