Chlorine-free pools may become reality for small lodges with legislative approval
PIERRE — Small lodges would be able to offer their guests a chlorine-free swimming experience under the terms of a bill approved Friday by the South Dakota House of Representatives.
House Bill 1299, sponsored by Rapid City Democrat Nicole Uhre-Balk, would allow establishments with 15 or fewer sleeping rooms to install biofilters for their pools. A biofilter is defined by the bill as a system that uses natural filtration processes to clean water, rather than chlorine.
Such systems use areas of plants, soil and rocks, physically separate from the pool, to clean water in a manner that mimics natural processes. Water flows through these regeneration zones, where microorganisms and beneficial bacteria in the soil leach out harmful contaminants, much like they do when water seeps through layers of soil on its way to aquifers.
The systems have caught on in other parts of the country and have grown popular in Europe, according to supporters who spoke in favor of the bill in the House Ag and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday. No one testified against the bill. The first natural pools opened in Europe in 1980 and in the United States in 2015.
https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2026/02/22/chlorine-free-pools-may-become-reality-for-small-lodges-with-legislative-approval/
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