Photo Credit: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) Superintendent Jayne Miller closed her eyes and took a deep breath amid a buzz of last-minute preparations on a sweltering, mid-summer afternoon. Then she opened her eyes and broke into a wide, blissful smile while looking over the Webber Park Natural Swimming Pool (Webber NSP) just minutes before it debuted on July 24, 2015.
It took nearly five years of lobbying, troubleshooting, and unwavering commitment to successfully open the first public pool in North America that entirely eschews chemical treatments to clean its water. Instead, the Webber NSP—free for all users during regular hours—relies on a network of filters, robotic vacuums, and an adjacent 16,000-square-foot “regeneration basin” full of aquatic plants to keep the water clean and clear.
The first seeds of the complicated, innovative project were planted shortly after Miller was hired to head up the award-winning, 6,800-acre park system in November 2010. The old Webber Pool closed permanently that summer after more than three decades of use, and a master-planning process for the park was launched in early 2011.