Water is a highly safeguarded resource in Arizona. The Arizona Whitewater Adventure Park has gone to great lengths to clarify the benefits created versus the facility’s impact on water resources.
Estimates of water use for the whitewater retention pond are 32 million gallons of recreation quality (cleaner than river water but not potable/drinkable) water annually. Broken down, it is estimated that the initial fill will take 16 million gallons of water. The remaining 16 million gallons are being allotted to refill the retention pond for evaporation and splash out.
Arizona Whitewater Adventure Park’s water needs are minimal compared to another widely accepted and popular recreation in Arizona: outdoor golf courses. According to Fluence’s March 29, 2021, article titled Sustainable Water Use for Golf Courses, a typical 150-acre golf course uses approximately 200 million gallons of water a year (Fluence News Team, 2021) (https://www.fluencecorp.com/golf-course-water-use/).
The project uses less water to provide a larger and more diverse population with authentic and inexpensive outdoor experiences. More people will experience nature and have more outdoor recreation options while using less water. Unlike a golf course, the whitewater channels are a closed looped system that retains, recirculates, and treats the water for the general public to have direct experiences and interactions with water.
Arizona Whitewater Adventure Park serves an important public good that is recognized by Arizona Statutes. The 1987 Lakes Bill ARS 45-132 provides an exception to facilitate such uses. Section B(3) is an exception for regulating the filling of large bodies of water that are on county land for public recreation purposes.
The park will be open to the public for year-round recreation, and a long-term lease allows MCPRD to retain ownership of the land. The exception exists to encourage the use and public recreation that the project offers. It revitalizes Estrella Park and provides exciting, new, year-round public recreation options and services for all to enjoy.