Commentaries, Interviews & Profiles

The Expanding World of Pool Inspections
Swimming pools and other types of watershapes encompass a range of issues that are specific to structures that contain water. Inspecting them as part of real estate transactions, and for several other purposes, requires specific expertise and a systematized methods of recording and reporting inspection results. ...
Finding the Rescue: A Life in Water, Science, and Spirit
As both a medical professional dedicated to helping patients find a path to healing, and a member of the watershaping industry focused on providing systems that generate current in pools and lazy rivers, Denise Canchola de Tournillon has built a unique career, over the past 25 years, in which water is a unifying element. ...
Are Waterparks Just Getting Started?
Although they’ve been around for decades, waterparks remain a dynamic and innovative industry focused on delivering a spectrum of aquatic experiences to consumers of all ages. After more than 25 years in the business, Craig Nielsen has had a front-row seat to the evolution, and he’s says with confidence, waterparks are only at the beginning. ...
A Journey Through the Paris Sewers
There is no place quite the like the sewers of Paris. Beginning with the very notion that a sewer could be the subject of wonder and fascination is counterintuitive, but when you take the trip below the streets, what watershaping mastery is both surprising and inspiring. ...
The Price of Precision
Master pool builder, Dave Penton, shares why charging higher prices in swimming pool construction comes down to precision, professionalism, and uncompromising attention to detail. From excavation and steel installation to plumbing, shotcrete, finishes, and equipment layout, Penton explains how discipline and lifelong learning justify premium pricing. ...
When the Sun Returns
For pool service companies working in seasonal markets, spring is the busiest time of year. Long Island’s Julie Kazdin, welcomes the surge in activity after spending the winter planning, regrouping and educating staff. When the sun finally returns, her company springs into action preparing clients’ pools for the warmth and fun that lies just ahead. ...
Rules in Hot Water
California has always been on the leading edge of change and innovation. The changes made today will make a difference in how things like pool and spa heating is designed, installed and serviced tomorrow, says Huntington Beach service veteran Robert H. Foutz Jr.. ...
Seeds of Purpose
At age 29, Marcus Hampton has been running his own custom home and watershaping design and build firm for eight years. And, as he explains in this discussion about the industry’s new generation of aspiring professionals, in many ways, he and his contemporaries are just getting started. ...
Rolling with the Changes
Pool service tech, Robert Foutz Jr., takes a look back over his 40 years in the service side of the pool industry, with an eye toward some of the many changes he has seen along the way—as well as some of the new things he had to learn in order to adapt. ...
Managing an Attractive Nuisance
When a construction site is left unsecured, it can become a serious hazard, says veteran expert witness, Scott Cohen. The danger isn’t hypothetical. It’s real, potentially fatal, but also, thankfully, preventable. The key is always keeping in mind that clients, and especially kids, don’t always appreciate the hazards of a working construction site. ...