Annals of Great Ideas: Water Park in Drought-Stricken Region
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 11.21.07
Despite their assurances to the contrary, we can't help but think that building a "year-round watersports paradise" in a severely drought-stricken region may not be such a hot idea. Given that Phoenix, which sits in the middle of a desert, has been suffering from a series of droughts over the last 11 years (never mind that the water levels in its rivers recently dipped to near-record lows), it seems as though it could find better uses for its scarce water supplies
Jerry Hug, one of the businessmen behind the water park, called Waveyard, wants to recreate the seascape of either Indonesia or Hawaii on a site encompassing 125 acres - located about 200 miles away from the closest beach. This brilliant scheme will require an initial investment of 189m liters of water, with a projected 380m liters each subsequent year for maintenance and troubleshooting purposes.
"Lie on our white sand, rent a beach chair, ride a boogie board, build a massive sand castle. The Lost Coast will deliver the beach, the waves and the coastal lifestyle," reads one of Waveyard's colorful ads - which boasts a wide array of exciting water sports such as snorkeling, scuba diving and canoeing.
Surprisingly, the project has faced little to no opposition by residents of Mesa, the nearest town. Local officials are hoping that the provision of up to 7,500 new jobs will help buoy the economy and cancel out any potential negative effects caused by the park's large consumption of water. Even Rita Maguire, the resident water expert, praised the park as providing a much-needed component to the community: "recreation."
Sounds like a reasonable trade-off.
Via ::Guardian Unlimited: Water park planned for Arizona desert (news website)
See also: ::The Dehydrated States of America, ::No Respite from Heat for Western States, ::Red Cross To Georgia: 'Be Ready For Drought Emergency With 5 Cases Of Bottled Water Per Person'
Might building this park reduce the number of installed private pools in the future?
Sort of pool pooling.....
Just wondering.
Might also decrease the number of trips taken to the '200 mile away' beach.
Still wondering....
People want some form of recreation and using one large pool instead of everyone building their own makes sense just like one bus is better than 30 cars. One large pool is more fun too.
A quick calculation shows the water usage is less than 300 acre feet per year, which is really not that much. There are lots of ways to cut water usage, this would not be high on my priority list.
It reminds me of when I lived in Texas. In San Antonio, there was a major water park called Splashtown USA (it changed names a lot). It took 45 minutes to get to it, because we lived pretty far North.
Then 45 minutes in the other direction, in New Braunfels, was Schlitterbahn, which used water directly out of the river, filtered, and returned. Also, I recall all the old oak trees everywhere providing shade. It was much better, and seemed so much more sustainable than the concrete swath in town. And the same distance.
sweet - i would like to go there!
I miss the Windsor Waterworks. :(
The previous comments illustrate the commonly held perception that environmental issues, including the current water problems some regions face, are about us. They're not. They're about what's left, for ALL not just people. The presumptions that everything is ours to do with as we see fit is the epitomy of hubris.
To compare this with private pool usage or the distance to a natural beach is a straw man argument since both are impractical when discussing the ability of a region to support life. The recreation argument wears thin in places we shouldn't live. The desert in Africa has been expanding to the south for decades, severely diminishing inhabitable land. Just because we have plumbing doesn't mean we can live in a desert with New England landscaping, and our own southwest desert is now expanding too. When that huge underground reservoir currently used to irrigate the cornbelt is gone (20-30 yr estimates) it will grow in leaps and bounds. So much is drawn from the Colorado river it hasn't reached the ocean in years; it just peters out to a dry river bed miles shy of the coast. We certainly don't suffer from a dearth of indicators. We really do have enough data.
It's been said that the major wars of this century wiil be fought over water. To that I would add - If ten people tell you you look drunk, you might want to consider sitting down.
The same thing is happening in Concord, NC (just north of Charlotte). We are in an extreme drought, and they are building some waterpark that won't even be open to the public. Only to guests at some fancy resort.
Mind you, this is after they begged and pleaded to take water away from an adjacent river basin because they "don't have enough water". (older story on Treehugger about this issue - search for Catawba river)
I live in Phoenix.
Contrary to the article, it is not "suprising" that this idea has faced no community opposition. I grew up in Boston and the water conseration efforts there during dry summers were head and shoulders above anything I've seen out here.
The fact that we've been in an 11 year drought, is never in the news here, and yet the drought in Atlanta frequently in the news here.
You would never know this is a desert and that water was scarce from the mentality here.
The problem with the word "drought" is that it leads people to believe it's a temporary situation and things will get better. We're facing that mentality here in South Australia. I feel that we're not in drought - this is the new "normal" in many places around the world. Maybe with that in mind we'd see less of this sort of thing. We don't have a right to pools or fancy resorts - I agree with much of what John says, it's not just about us and if being around water is that important, folks need to live elsewhere.
I live in Tempe, which is adjacent to both Phoenix and Mesa. The Waveyard will be about 3 miles from my house. I have very mixed feelings about this project. Apparently it uses only slightly more water than the golf course it's replacing, and we have a crapload of golf courses out here. I believe they use graywater to irrigate the golf courses, and apparently the metro area does a really good job of reusing water and conserving and storing water when we do have a wet spell. See Vegas for really obscene water use. Our residential sprawl actually uses less water than the agriculture it is displacing- crazy, huh?
All that said, I agree that living in the desert with a personal pool and a green lawn is just plain rude. I think this park sends the wrong message about water conservation... but I'm pretty sure I'm going to go there when it's 115 outside. I will rationalize it with the fact that I don't irrigate my yard and have low flow fixtures throughout my house. And I don't golf.
I looked at the photograph closely and, to my great disappointment, the palm trees in it look fake. Not wasting water on irrigation seems totally incongruous with the idea of a water park!
I used to live in Phoenix, and the other poster is correct in that you would never know there is a drought going on. There are water features everywhere, fountains spraying, pools, etc. But I do wonder how the water use of this compares to the 278 or so golf courses in Phoenix, or even just to the average water use of one of the more extravagant golf courses that has water features.
"drought stricken region" ??? I think you're talking about a desert right? Why are you calling it "drought stricken" ??? Droughts are temporay. This is a desert fella.