"Ocean" To Be Built In Arizona Desert

As Part Of Water Sports Theme Park That May Use 60 Million To 100 Million Gallons A Year

(CBS/AP)  What will the gila monsters and coyotes think?

A project reminiscent of Ski Dubai - the world's largest snow park, in a country where daytime temperatures average 113 degrees - is taking shape in the Arizona desert. Water, not snow, is the theme for this one.

Developers plan to build a massive new water park that would offer surf-sized waves, snorkeling, scuba diving and kayaking - all in a bone-dry region that gets just 8 inches of rain a year.

"It's about delivering a sport that's not typically available in an urban environment," said Richard Mladick, a real estate developer who persuaded business leaders in suburban Mesa to support the proposal, called the Waveyard.

Artists' drawings of the park show surfers gliding through waves that crash onto a sandy beach, and kayakers navigating the whitecaps of a wide, roiling river. Families watch the action from beneath picnic umbrellas. If constructed, the park would use as much as 100 million gallons of groundwater a year.

That water use may raise future questions in a state that has been in a drought for a decade.

Many other water-hungry projects dot Arizona, courtesy of water tapped from rivers and pumped from deep underground. They include carpets of Bermuda grass, swimming pools, golf courses and lakeshore homes.

Waveyard's developer, Mladick, who is 39, says he wants to create the kind of lush environment he remembers from growing up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and surfing in Morocco, Indonesia, Hawaii and Brazil.

"I couldn't imagine raising my kids in an environment where they wouldn't have the opportunity to grow up being passionate about the same sports that I grew up being passionate about," he said.

The Waveyard, to be built 15 miles east of Phoenix, would dwarf the typical water-slide parks familiar to many Arizona families and at 125 acres, is considerably bigger than Ski Dubai, a close cousin in terms of rising above nature.

The Arizona water sports complex is to include an artificial whitewater river with multiple channels where kayakers can test themselves on Class 2 to Class 4 rapids. Visitors could enjoy an artificial beach and a simulated ocean capable of producing different size waves, from 12-foot barreling waves to tamer chop for boogie boarders.

The park will feature a scuba lagoon, a snorkeling pond with reefs and a rock-climbing center. The park will also have restaurants, a shopping district, a spa, and a hotel and conference center.

Jerry Hug, a businessman who co-founded the project, said he expects it will eventually generate more than $1 billion in revenue and create 7,500 jobs. That is especially attractive in Mesa, a city of about 460,000 people that has struggled to keep up with the booming development of its neighbors.

"We don't have a property tax in our city," said Eric Jackson, chairman of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce. "It requires us to be very heavily dependent on revenues from sales taxes."

Mesa voters overwhelmingly approved their proposal on Nov. 6, granting the Waveyard an estimated $35 million in tax incentives with more than 65 percent of the vote.

No citizens groups overtly opposed the project, but its water usage may raise questions in the future as the growing Phoenix areas struggles to replenish its vast aquifer. Arizona has been in a drought for a decade, and rivers that feed Phoenix and surrounding communities experienced near-record low measurements this year.

"Water is a scarce and valued commodity," said Jim Holway, associate director of the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University.

Holway said the Phoenix area currently enjoys huge supplies of underground water. But it is tough to determine how long communities can sustain their rate of water consumption, given that global warming may make the desert even drier.

The Waveyard will need as much as 50 million gallons of water at first to fill its artificial oceans and rivers.

Replenishing water lost to evaporation and spillage will require another 60 million gallons to 100 million gallons per year, enough to support about 1,200 people in the Phoenix area.

Project organizers say they will not tap Mesa's drinking water supplies to fill the park. Instead, they plan to draw from a well that has elevated levels of arsenic, which makes its water unsuitable for drinking. The Waveyard will build a treatment plant to make the water safe for swimmers.

Rita Maguire, a former director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources who studied water availability for Waveyard developers, said the project will not use any more water than one of Arizona's many golf courses.

"Initially, the reaction is, 'Oh, my - is this an appropriate use of water in a desert?"'

"But recreation is a very important part of a community. And if you can make the use of that water in a highly efficient way, it's a smart choice," she said.

Holway agreed, saying communities could do a better job using water in public spaces "that everybody can enjoy as opposed to having lush yards that we just lock behind fences."

"From that point of view, maybe this is a good thing."

[j0xujahc]

What is wrong with these nuts? Can they not read the paper and see that water is becoming extremely scarce in the west?
Talk about brain dead!

[jasinez2005]

correction on email address.

[e-mail]

[jasinez2005]

correction on email address.

[e-mail]

[jasinez2005]

anyone else who has same comments ought to take a minute to send your email also to:

[e-mail]

to let them know what idiotcy really looks like.
(since I couldn''t find a published email for Richard Mladick himself.

And ask them to forward your comments. I''m sure they have his email.

[jasinez2005]

"I couldn''t imagine raising my kids in an environment where they wouldn''t have the opportunity to grow up being passionate about the same sports that I grew up being passionate about," he said.

Then MOVE to an environment that is THAT.

Arizona is a desert. Desert. Desert. We have enough water issue problems without adding to it IMMENSLY for a personal want. Notice I said want, not need?

If you have enough money or backers to do this, perhaps you should use your wealth to solve some of our real problems. Homeless, diseases, smog issues, LACK of water, CAP Pipeline (uh...depleting isn''t it?), gee, right now.. Toys for Tots, school programs and school funding, welfare, the list can go on and on.

Instead of choosing to TEACH your kids about kindness to humanity, your choosing to teach your kids how to be selfish. What a pitiful parent you must be.

[jasinez2005]

"I couldn''t imagine raising my kids in an environment where they wouldn''t have the opportunity to grow up being passionate about the same sports that I grew up being passionate about," he said.

Then MOVE to an environment that is THAT.

Arizona is a desert. Desert. Desert. We have enough water issue problems without adding to it IMMENSLY for a personal want. Notice I said want, not need?

If you have enough money or backers to do this, perhaps you should use your wealth to solve some of our real problems. Homeless, diseases, smog issues, LACK of water, CAP Pipeline (uh...depleting isn''t it?), gee, right now.. Toys for Tots, school programs and school funding, welfare, the list can go on and on.

Instead of choosing to TEACH your kids about kindness to humanity, your choosing to teach your kids how to be selfish. What a pitiful parent you must be.

[dmhphils]

Buildings falling, dollar falling, teens falling, economy falling, popularity falling, soldiers falling, and we still want to play like children. We just don''t get it, do we?

[jetranger7]

Hey Everybody !!!! I have a Better Solution than using Water for this Developer ! I say they should try using "Recycled - URINE"(Pizz) from everybody, have everybody Collect & Save their Samples in Jugs, and offer some sort of Deposit Payment, like they do Soda Pop bottles, then that''ll save on the water, and everybody can Enjoy a refreshing Activity in the Warm Sun !! Maybe they could call it: "PIZZ and PLAY" or "The GOLDEN CHAMPAIGN WATER PARK" or "STREAMERS" !! Its just an idea, new innotive Technology may just be whats needed down there in Arizona and Vegas, isn''t SCIENCE a WONDERFUL Thing !! There Problem Solved !!

[lucky1267]

This just proves what the heat can do to the brain.
How stupid is stupid? I think we finally have our answer now.

[michellem99-2009]

Their called snow birds. Yer right. It get Hot heat wise. We got out and stayed out. It is the heat index that is bad. They are building a water play area. They need the water for daily living. Droughts are awful. It is a waste just for a water park.

[hmmm8]

Lizardbate needs to read the WHOLE article. They''re going to build a water treatment plant to make the water safe for swimmers. But here''s the question: Why doesn''t Arizona invest some money and build the water treatment plant since they know the water is there and can be cleaned and used for the people when growth is becoming such an issue?! And here''s my own personal question: How can people stand to live there? I don''t understand the growth! I lived there and moved away as soon as I got a chance. Never saw a drop of water in the "Salt River." Hot as Hades, people. It''s no way to live!

[mbievtea]

Sometimes the gluttony of America is despicable.

Why not use Salt Water; with global warming seems we are going to have lots of that. We could even reflood the salt flats and dry lakes creating a new source of lake-water effect storms that might well replace ground water being used by all those dry states.

[lizardbate]

Did this article say, you''all would be swimming, surfing and canoeing in arsenic water??????????? I think this guy is lost in the desert and seeing a mirage???????

[denn034]

The only thing that can exist in a desert is a mirage short of one very impressive irrigation system anyway. I don''t hold out much hope for this.

[luvl42]

I haven''t even read this article and I have a problem. There are cities in America that have no water and Arizona wants to build a water park. What''s wrong with that picture.

[rf35]

Looks terribly irresponsible at first glance, but maybe not so bad. If golf courses use that much water and likely fewer people would use a golf course than would visit this park.

[kansas1946]

I thought that Lake Mead was drying up and the southwest was having a drought. This sounds kind of weird?

[boston1954]

The park will only use about 15% more water than the golf course --Posted by chiefsatw at 11:23 AM
__
I would LOVE to know how much that 15 percent works out to be in actuall GALLONS!

[rokero69]

Let them build it, itll bankrupt in no time, the desert will re claim it, and then itll just be a laughing point.