Big splash for world's largest swimming pool

TAKE a deep breath before you try swimming a lap in the swimming pool at the San Alfonso del Mar resort in Chile.

Pool your resources ... the resort lagoon at San Alfonso del Mar has the honour of being the world's largest swimming pool/ Reuters Gallery »

TAKE a deep breath before you try swimming a lap in the swimming pool at the San Alfonso del Mar resort in Chile.

At one-kilometre in length, the resort’s tropical blue lagoon has received the nod from the Guinness World Records as the world's largest swimming pool.

The lagoon, cost an estimated $US1.5 billion ($1.74 billion) to build, covers an area of eight hectares and the 2.5 million litres of water needed to fill it is drawn from the Pacific Ocean.

The water in summer is kept at 26 degrees Celcius, around nine degrees warmer than the chilly Chilean ocean.

The man-made lagoon is so large that resort guests make use of small boats and kayaks to ferry around the pool.

But don't worry about having to clean the pool.

The lagoon technology can "harvest, filter and permanently recirculate ocean water," according to the Chilean biochemist Fernando Fischmann who heads Crystal Lagoons Corporation, the company which developed the technology.

The San Alfonso del Mar resort is situated on Chile's southern coast, 100 km west of Santiago.