Wave of new business hits industry.(newsroom)

The industry's lazy river ride of last year is over. Like a giant wave, a vast amount of new business activity has hit this year, inundating everyone with more growth, more time constraints, and above all, more work.

"It's just a huge change from last year," says Alison Osinski, president of Aquatic Consulting Services in San Diego. "I think it's noticeable to everybody that something is different."

Osinski calls this year's workload "busier than normal" and last year's "incredibly slow." Her clients include managers of swim schools and aquatic therapy pools, both of which she says are booming.

"In the past, I worked with a swim school and it would take a couple years to build a small school," she says. "I've got clients building four schools at a time right now. So their business is doing extremely well, and as a result [the industry] is designing a lot of pools and building a lot of pools."

Just how many new pools is anyone's guess. Due to the highly specialized nature of commercial pool and waterpark construction, no good statistics exist. But anecdotally, Osinski isn't the only one swimming against the industry's rushing current of business this year. Other designers, architects, consultants and aquatics experts buzzing about the growth attribute it to an improving economy and rising interest from the private sector.

Rick Schaffer's Delano, Minn.-based company, USAquatics, seized upon the private market after years of mainly community work. "We're really excited about private sector work," says the designer and administrative manager. "It's a lot more creative and it's easier because you don't have to deal with community committees."

Treadwell Jones agrees. "Private industry has picked up ...