The SPLASH! Environmental Awards for the swimming pool, spa and aquatics industries were recently presented at a gala dinner on the Gold Coast in late July 2010.

A total of 19 winners, finalists and encouragement awards were distributed to all sectors of the industry including

  • Pool designers and builders
  • Pool shops
  • Local council pools
  • Theme parks
  • Inventors; and
  • International manufacturers
Waterco was the winner of the SPLASH! Environmental Product of the Year Award for their MultiCyclone pre-filter. The MultiCyclone is an Australian innovation that filters water prior to it going to the main filters. This reduces the load on the filter and the amount of backwashing required. Average sand filters can use more than 8000 litres for backwashing each a year. This can be drastically reduced by using the cyclonic pre-filter, which only needs 15 litres of water to purge. Potential water savings are estimated at about 7000 litres per year for an average pool.

The judges were impressed that this product is priced economically and is something that most existing and new pool owners could benefit from.

Waterco also received an award for their Britestream LED lights. Britestream lights provide ample illumination for swimming pools and use just 15 per cent of the energy used by an equivalent halogen light. These super bright LED lights can deliver up to 352 lumens of light (for the white LED) while operating on only 15 watts of energy. Each Brightstream LED light has a lifespan of more than 70,000 hours (up to 35 times longer than a halogen light), meaning that replacement needs and associated costs are reduced.

The SPLASH! Environmental Awards were hosted by world famous Olympian, Steven Bradbury, the speed skater famed for being the “last man standing” in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

The awards are gaining in popularity, and it was also clear that many great advances have been made, particularly with manufacturers.

Further information on MultiCyclone pre-filters and Brightstream LED lights is available from Waterco.