Despite having 700 miles of sandy beaches to swim and play on, Floridians have always loved their swimming pools.

Even that workaholic Thomas Edison had a Portland  Cement pool put into his winter state and lab at Fort Myers in 1910.  Visitors to the Edison complex want to jump into it today, but it’s off limits.

The Old Edison Swimming Pool

During the Florida Land Boom of the 1920’s, having a large swimming pool was an important addition to a resort’s success.  The largest resort pool in the world was built at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables and the site almost symbolized what became the South Florida lifestyle.

Speaking of Coral Gables, where I once lived, the fancy development lacked waterfront so founder George Merrick converted a coral rock quarry into an 820,000 gallon public pool fed with spring water from an underground aquifer.

 Designed by artist Denman Fink and architect Phineas Paist, Venetian Pool is a masterpiece with its two Mediterranean towers, signature bridge, grottos, and a forest of palm trees.  I always found it amazing that in summer, the giant pool is emptied and refilled every night.

Today, in the world of giant water parks, people who don’t sit directly on a Florida beach want more pool for their money.  The 400,000 backyard pools in Florida are not enough.

Thanks to the Crystal Lagoons Corporation of Chile and Florida, Florida will be the home of some of the world’s most gigantic swimming pools.  At the Old Epperson Ranch site in Pasco County Metro Development Corporation is building a 10,000 home development and with Crystal Lagoons a lagoon the size of seven football fields, complete with zero entry for small kids and nine foot depth for water sports.

A Drawing of Pasco County Lagoon

The well-serviced lagoon will have water you can actually drink like bottled water.  This is well water  that is self-cleaning with an ultrasonic system which you can’t say about the Gulf of Mexico a 45-minute drive away.

Other Crystal Lagoon pools are going up near Orlando outside Lake Nora and down in North Fort Myers by Prichett Park, where an eight acre lagoon is planned.   These projects are so vast that the Army Corps of Engineers has to be consulted on the construction.

Even more spectacular is the 183-acre North Miami community of SoleMia where two 10-acre Crystal Lagoon pools will go up east of Biscayne Boulevard.

The most amazing thing about these gigantic pools is they are relatively environmentally friendly.  Water needs to be replaced just for evaporation making them thirty times more water efficient than maintaining a large golf course.   They use up to 100 less chemicals than traditional disinfection systems of drinking water and pools.  They are energy efficient.

It looks like Florida is becoming the state of gigantic lagoon-like swimming and recreational pools.