Can I use my hot tub water around the garden?

When it does eventually come time to empty and refresh your spa, you might feel guilty watching hundreds of litres of water go down the drain—especially during a dry spell. The good news is that you can absolutely recycle your old hot tub water to keep your garden lawn and plants alive!

Preparing your water: Dropping the chemicals

To do this safely and responsibly without harming your landscaping, you just need to let the chemical levels drop first. Before you empty the spa, make sure to remove any inline tablet dispensers and any floating dispensers you might be using. Leaving these in will keep your sanitiser levels high. Simply stop adding chlorine or bromine and let the levels naturally drop down close to zero over 3 to 5 days. This makes the water perfectly safe for your grass and hardy plants. At the same time, it is highly recommended to test your water and check the pH balance. You should aim for a neutral pH level as close to 7 as possible before using it on your soil. Water that is too acidic or too alkaline can shock delicate root systems. To balance pH levels, you can use either pH Reducer or pH Increaser.

Protecting your spa while the levels drop

While you are waiting for the chemicals to dissipate, you should turn your heating temperature right down to save energy. However, be sure to leave your cover firmly on, as this protects the spa from leaves and other garden debris getting into the water and causing separate filtration or organic problems. You should also leave your filtration cycles running normally; keeping the water moving avoids stagnation and stops bacteria from taking hold while the chemical levels drop.

Utilising water storage

A great way to manage the draining process is making use of water butts. Instead of letting the water flood your garden all at once, you can use a submersible pump to transfer the water into an empty water butt (or a couple) or storage containers. Storing it gives any remaining chemical residues extra time to completely dissipate, settle, and dilute with any leftover rainwater.

You can recycle your hot tub water at any time, but the ability to reuse the water around your garden can be a (plant) life saver during a hose pipe ban (Temporary Use Ban). When it comes to using the water, the regulations of a ban can work in your favour here. While you cannot connect a hosepipe directly to your mains tap to water the garden, using a hosepipe connected to an off-grid recycled water supply is allowed. By putting a submersible pump inside your water butt, or even directly inside the chemically depleted hot tub itself, you can legally use a hose to distribute that recycled water exactly where your garden needs it most.

By recycling your spa water this way, you can keep your hot tub maintained and your garden green, all while doing your bit to protect our regional water supplies.

When to skip recycling: A quick word on water safety

We recommend you only recycle hot tub or swim spa water when you’re planning to empty your spa for a its regular maintenance (e.g. your routine water change). We do not suggest you reuse water that has had any serious water quality issues (e.g. biofilm build up) that can occurr due to poor water chemistry and management.