Public Pools

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Natural swimming pools use plants and biological filtration to keep water clean, and these two North American pools show the approach at work, from a city park to a small resort.

Webber Natural Swimming Pool, in Webber Park in north Minneapolis, opened on July 24, 2015 as the first public natural swimming pool in North America. It is owned and operated by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and staffed by lifeguards. Instead of chlorine, the water is cleaned by biological filters and a planted regeneration basin of about 16,000 square feet, home to roughly 7,000 aquatic plants. The full volume of the 21,000 square foot pool, about 500,000 gallons, circulates through this system every 12 hours. Landform designed the facility using a filtration system from BioNova Natural Pools, after a 2011 Minnesota law made it possible.

Shortgrass Resort sits on the Redwater River just north of Spearfish, South Dakota, near the Black Hills. Its heated, in-ground natural pool relies on biological filtration and is framed by sculpted boulders and native plantings. Design drawings call for a pool about 40 by 22 feet and 3.5 to 7 feet deep. It was designed by Jesse Dutra of Waterscapes Design Group with BioNova Natural Pools, and was featured on Magnolia Network's Building Outside the Lines in 2026. The resort's owner also testified for South Dakota House Bill 1299, a 2026 law that lets small lodging establishments apply for state permits for biologically filtered pools.