By Michelle Glicksman

Chad Nikkel is the owner of Aquaman Pools, LLC and Aqua Touch Pool Purification, a company that’s been serving the Valley since 2009. The company’s Aqua Touch Pool Purification offers an eco-friendly way to refresh your pool water—without draining your pool. We caught up with him to ask some questions about the process.

You offer a unique, eco-friendly pool purification process. Can you describe what it is?

Aqua Touch offers the fastest, most sustainable pool purification system on the market. Similar to reverse osmosis, our nano-filtration technology uses two large, high-pressure pumps to quickly push water through multiple membranes and filter out contaminants, restoring your pool water to bottled-water quality.

This saves wasting your pool water down the sewer drain and allows that water to be used for future generations.

Where did this technology originate?

Reverse Osmosis technology has been around for years, but has just recently been adapted to allow for use in larger capacity such as our mobile trailer. Our trailer was built for us by a company in Lake Havasu that specializes in water conservation techniques. 

Why is this a better option than draining a pool when the water needs to be changed?

Draining your pool every two years or so just wastes an incredible amount of water. Each time you do that, it wastes approximately 15,000 gallons of a precious resource in our desert. In addition to that, the water that comes out of the tap in the Valley is very hard and has a lot of minerals already in it. Our mobile reverse osmosis process turns the water in your pool to bottled-water quality—way better than what comes out of your tap. Your pool will run better and use less chemicals afterwards, along with the water being better for your skin, hair and nails, and your pets if they swim or drink out of your pool. 

How much water is conserved by using this process?

Our process wastes only 5% to 10% of the water, so in most cases 95% of the water is saved for our desert. 

Can this technology be used on any pool?

This can be used on most pools. Occasionally we have a pool that cannot be accessed well, but other than that, all pools. 

How often would a homeowner need to do this?

It depends on usage and other issues, but generally, pool water should be refreshed every two to three years. The chemistry of the pool water determines when, based on when the mineral levels climb to that level.

What inspired you to offer this service?

I was looking for a way that we could impact the future of the Valley, and water usage is a growing concern. I found out that if we stopped draining pools and only refreshed them via this process, we would save enough water annually in the Phoenix valley for 40,000 new households per year with this one simple change without any extra water from Lake Mead. That is substantial and I felt compelled to get involved.

Looking to conserve water in your pool?

•       Avoid overfilling the pool, which can lead to waste when splashing and playing in the water, and always monitor the pool when filling it so as to not allow it to overflow.

•       When building a pool, make sure splash troughs are installed to filter back into the pool.

•       According to the Arizona Department of Water Resources, the average evaporation rate in Phoenix and Tucson is about 6 feet of water per year, mostly occurring in the summer. Installing a pool cover can conserve up to 95% of water that would be lost to evaporation.

•       If a large amount of water is being lost, there could be a leak that should be fixed in order to conserve water.

•       Use small, high-efficiency pool pumps (the Arizona Department of Water Resources Conservation Program suggests a 0.75 horsepower pump for most residential pools), and don¹t run the pump for more than three hours a day to save both energy and money.

According to Nikkel, the Aqua Touch Pool Purification System offers the following eco-friendly aspects:

•       A safe and effective reverse osmosis technology similar to the process of filtering drinking water can turn almost any pool water into pure, clean water that is safe enough to drink, while eliminating water waste.

•       Saves more than 15,000 gallons of water (the approximate amount lost through each pool draining process).

•       Protects and reduces wear and tear on pool equipment and surfaces so less maintenance is required over time.

•       Requires fewer chemicals to clean the pool and remove impurities, yet results in cleaner, more pristine water for longer than traditional draining.

•       In addition to safe, pure pool water for families to enjoy, the Aqua Touch Pool Purification System has no negative impact on the environment and positively impacts water conservation efforts. In fact, if just 150,000 of the approximately 500,000 pools were treated with the Aqua Touch system instead of traditional draining, enough water would be conserved to support 45,000 new households annually ­without a drop needed from Lake Mead.

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