Piscina & Wellness Barcelona fills its pools and spas with seawater

Piscina & Wellness Barcelona 2023 aims to ensure that the event has the least environmental impact on the surroundings. In this regard, as in previous editions, it is implementing various actions as part of its “Towards Zero Impact” initiative to reduce waste, save resources and offset carbon emissions. New this year is the filling of all the pools and spas on display with vitalised seawater, which after the fair will be reused in other facilities, and the planting of more than a thousand trees in different Tree Nation projects.

Organised by Fira de Barcelona with the support of the Spanish swimming pool sector employers’ association ASOFAP, Piscina & Wellness Barcelona will bring together, from 27 to 30 November at the Gran Via venue, the entire value chain of the swimming pool product for residential and public use, as well as installations, equipment and accessories related to wellness, spa, fitness and outdoor decoration. This year the solutions for a sustainable, connected and more experiential swimming pool will be the protagonists.

Sustainable and salty pools 

In view of the current climatic conditions, Piscina & Wellness Barcelona will be using a sustainable, responsible alternative with a social impact to fill the pools and spas on display at the trade show: vitalised seawater.

To this end, it is working in collaboration with Más Que Iniciativas, a company that employs people with disabilities and offers this service to individuals and residents’ associations as well as to public swimming pools in municipalities, sports complexes and tourist resorts.

The company has all the necessary permits to collect seawater without harming the environment or interfering with other maritime activities. By means of a mobile filtering and treatment plant, moved to the place of extraction, it eliminates impurities and improves the concentration of trace elements, mineral salts and other nutrients in the water. Once treated, vitalised and analysed, this water is transported in tanker trucks with all the health guarantees to the destination installation, with a useful life of up to 6 years. Furthermore, due to its natural salinity, the consumption of chemical products linked to pool maintenance is considerably reduced.

Piscina & Wellness Barcelona calculates that it will need 400 cubic metres of seawater to fill the pools at the fair. However, this water will not be wasted once the show is over, as the supplier company will collect it again to reuse it to fill other recreational aquatic facilities or fire-fighting pools in Catalonia.

Trees that offset emissions

To offset the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions associated with the organisation of the event and the participation of all the speakers (including travel and time spent in Barcelona), the show will finance the planting of more than a thousand trees in various reforestation projects organised and coordinated by Tree Nation, an organisation that fights climate change by supporting local communities through its activities. The selected projects in which the event will collaborate are in Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Thailand, India, Spain and Portugal.

Circular economy

In line with Fira de Barcelona’s sustainability policy, Piscina & Wellness Barcelona promotes various circular economy measures and the reuse of materials to minimise the waste generated during the event. In this sense, the show uses recycled carpeting, reuses materials and furniture from other events or returns them to the supplier so that they have a second life, such as the pool covers that will be used in the construction of the Wellness Experience. In order to avoid food waste, it also donates surplus food and drink to the NGO “Nutrició sense fronteras” for distribution to social organisations in the Catalan capital.

At the same time, Piscina & Wellness reduces plastic in the catering areas and implements selective waste collection; it reduces the consumption of printed paper by digitalising processes; and it is committed to sustainable merchandising, and informs and promotes the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda among visitors and exhibitors, among other measures. Meanwhile, on the energy front, it is worth remembering that the Gran Via venue only consumes energy from renewable sources, including not only the pavilions, but also the stands, exhibition spaces and congress activity areas, etc., and the offices.

Barcelona, November 2023