Book Published – The Water Quality Professional (2019)

For the past several years, a number of people in my life have told me that I should write a book about my approach to water quality management. It always seemed like a good idea given how much I talk about the subject and the passion it stirs in me. For the past 20-plus years, I’ve invested countless hours learning about water chemistry and all other major aspects of creating and maintaining outstanding water quality.

Now, I’m proud to announce it has finally happened. After more than two years of steady work, my first book, The Water Quality Professional: transforming aquatic management is available on Amazon both in print-on-demand and eBook form (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1727894286/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_i_c_.s-ECbPWJ436F).

The main point of the book is to promote and define the role of what I see as a new professional category, the water quality professional. The text includes my personal and professional background and how my thinking developed over the years as a foundation for the concept. It also goes into my overall philosophy of doing business; I devote several chapters to describing how I put together different technologies into the SRK HydroZone 3® treatment method, which is my own highest expression of the water-quality management process.

The content is not overly technical as I wanted to write for the consumer as well as the trade, and I’m not overtly promoting my product or business. Instead, the book is my attempt to offer a blueprint for the profession of water quality management and define why it’s so necessary for the future of the aquatic industries and, indeed, aquatics as a recreational, athletic, and therapeutic activity.

After years of thinking about putting my thoughts down on paper, the book finally started to take form in 2016 as a result of discussions with my dear friend and long-time collaborator, Eric Herman. Eric’s a talented and experienced writer/editor with a long track record in the pool/spa/aquatics industries. Having worked on numerous books in the past, he suggested that we work together on a blog series that we could eventually compile into book form. The idea was that in the process of writing the blog, we’d develop a backlog of material that would later form the bigger narrative.

To a large extent, that’s exactly what happened. Most of the text for the book has been drawn from my blog. However, it’s not surprising that in the process of assembling the book, we made countless changes and additions to the original blog posts. The fully assembled text is a loose compendium of the more than 50 blogs I’ve published online since those initial conversations.

Working with Eric, I learned a lot about how to form ideas for mass consumption and how each separate discussion fits into the bigger picture. I’ve enjoyed a strong, positive response to the messages and subjects we’ve covered, and it’s great to realistically hope these ideas have influenced others, both professionals and consumers.

Now that the book is complete, it feels great to have all these thoughts available for others to consider and enjoy. Ultimately, it’s all about the health and experience the industry delivers to the consumer, both in public and private settings. I’m thrilled to think the message will ultimately prevent someone from getting sick, and just as important, lead to greater enjoyment of the aquatic experience.

There’s a tremendous amount of effort, joy, and optimism embodied in the book’s 230-plus pages, and the plan is to keep these blogs rolling along so that in the not-too-distant future, I’ll publish another anthology of all things aquatic.