Keep it clean
Water treatment and pool maintenance are vital for a swimming pool or hot tub which is healthy for the user and free from harmful bacteria and viruses.

Although the maintenance of swimming pool water can appear complicated and difficult, all it takes is a little time and regular attention to keep it clean, bug free and safe.

Ask your pool installer for advice on additional equipment to make the chores easier. Some even provide a full maintenance service contract and do it for you.

Alternatively it may be worth paying for a weekly maintenance service from a pool contractor. If you want to do it yourself, it should take you no more than half an hour per week to test the water and clean it. Cloudy, unpleasant smelling water, limescale build-up and deposits of dirt and grime are the most common problems experienced but, with a little TLC, cleaning and maintainance should be relatively simple.

Cleaning checklist
After the winter, you will need to clean your pool thoroughly for the summer season. Make sure you have followed all these steps for pristine pool water.

• Remove debris from pool cover and clean the water
• Remove loose debris with a hose or cover clean and brush
• Clean pool surrounds with water or a specialist solution
• Brush pool walls with a pool brush
• Check circulation system (pump and filter) - clean the filter once a year
• Superchlorinate or oxidise
• Test water balance - check pH balance, total alkalinity and calcium hardness
• Clean the waterline with tile cleaner to get rid of greasy tidemarks
• Make sure testing equipment works
• Buy chemicals