Surfin' USA...in Mesa, Arizona?

If everybody had an ocean

Across the USA

Then everybody'd be surfin'

Like Mesa, USA

My apologies to Brian Wilson and Chuck Berry.

Fellow WaterWonk Elaine Hebard of Albuquerque, NM, alerted me to this story. I thought she was yanking my chain till I clicked on this link.

Mesa, AZ, (outside of Phoenix), which proudly bills itself as the nation's largest suburb (home to 460,000), has decided to help fund the Waveyard, a 125-acre facility that will allow desert dwellers to surf, kayak, and scuba-dive when the thermometer hits #$!* degrees. Voters (65% approval) recently passed a measure to give the developers $35 million in tax incentives. No one apparently mounted much opposition to it.

The Waveyard is expected to generate $1 billion in rvenues and 7,500 jobs. It will require 50 million gallons of water to fill, and lose about 60 to 100 million gallons per year due to seepage and evaporation. It will not use drinking water, but non-potable (elevated arsenic) ground water that will have to be treated because of humans will be immersed in it.

Real-estate developer Richard Mladick, the 'brains" behind this, grew up in Virginia Beach, VA, and has surfed in Morocco, Hawaii, Indonesia, 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. "It's about delivering a sport that's not typically available in an urban environment." Say what?

Actually, such sports are available in urban environments. Hey, Richard, try Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, etc.  But there is a "catch": the urban environments must be located on sea coasts. What he should have said is "not typically available in an interior continental desert environment."

When I was in graduate school at the UA in Tucson in the 1970s, there was a place in Tempe, AZ, called Big Surf, which tried to recreate the beach environment, replete with waves produced by what was essentially a giant flush toilet. But it could not produce the 12-foot monsters envisioned by Mladick. The Waveyard will also have Class 2 to Class 4 rapids.

It's nice to know we've advanced so far in 30 years, and that visionaries still walk amongst us.

As for my customary quote at the bottom, I can think of only one:

"It's a desert, stupid."

Comments

[TMJ]

Waveyard will be very interesting if it lives up to its hype. I can't wait to see the mad channels as it will be the largest recirculating white water river in the world. With Class II to Class IV waves this will be just like floating down the Snake River outside of Jackson Hole, WY.

[Debora Powell]

Dear Dr. Mladick,
I read your article regarding the upcoming aquadic center you are planning to build. What a wonderful gift you have given to the kids in the state of Arizona. I live in Bullhead City right next to the Colorado River. Unfortunately our kids here are unable to play in the river because of the recklessness of the boaters that forget children play in the water to. I think this area that I live in would truely benefit from a water park that you are offering Mesa Arizona. We have 100's of undeveloped acreage here in Bullhead City. Some of the land is BLM but if they see the revenues you are talking about I think the City Counsel & BLM will re-think about having a water theme park. The amount of jobs alone would bring help to this dying town. We have big department stores here now, i.e., Kohls, Target, Home Depo, Lowes, & famous restaurants i.e., IHOP, Chili's, Panda Express, Subway, etc. Why not a water park where it would be in use 10 months out of the year. I would also love to see an indoor volleyball building. What a great opportunity for boys/girls to play volleyball. I unfortunately do not have any financial backing whatsoever to develop the volleyball courts, however, I'd love to help develop one. Feel free to contact me via my email address.
Thank you,
Debora Powell

[Elaine WaterWonk]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the designation of WaterWonk! As a return favor, I will make my first-ever blog response.

Lots of things jumped out at me when I read that story --

* "It's about delivering a sport that's not typically available in an urban environment."

* ... he wanted to create the kind of lush environment he remembers from growing up in Virginia Beach, Va., 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,"

* The Waveyard is envisioned as the summer equivalent of a ski resort -- only with more choices,

Huh? My responses ranged from "then don't live in Mesa, Arizona!" and "take your kids to Hawaii!," to wondering if the next project was to build a ski resort in Mesa and finally to complete incredulity. Surfing and snorkeling in the Phoenix area!

I never did understand the idea of wanting to become like someplace else. Albuquerque is blessed with a river and bosque running through the center, and yet many would like us to have a river walk, taking away a heritage that belongs to San Antonio, among others. (Such development was not a part of our history and wouldn't be possible without the levees and dams upstream.)

Then other items began popping up as well --

"Project organizers say they won't 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."

That's for the outdoor uses. "Waveyard’s outdoor water use is expected to be less than that of an 18-hole golf course, and only slightly higher than the water use of the golf course and park that currently occupy the site."

What about the indoor use? Instead of the golf course and park, there will also be condos, hotels, shops conference center, spa and restaurants. (query -- is an indoor water park considered indoor or outdoor usage?)

The city's web site says is that "the land where Waveyard is located is entitled to extensive water rights from the Salt River Project system. Mesa anticipates that it will have enough water to meet Waveyard’s needs, even in drought conditions. Mesa does not expect that water use at Waveyard would ever impact or limit the water use of other customers." http://www.cityofmesa.org/citymgt/mesa-now/issues/waveyard.aspx

Presto, magic. Rights = supply. But what about the issues raised in the Newsweek article:

"... 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.

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

[Psst, quick, let's use it now, before someone figures out that this is a desert and the extent of the aquifer isn't as great as hoped!]

More thoughts ... so the water withdrawn won't impact other wells in the area? And the water isn't useful because it contains high levels of arsenic? If one user can clean it, then I would think others could too. Plus, from where will the energy come to operate these waves and such, plus the hotels, etc.? How about the water used to generate the energy?

Ray is onto something about the numbers. Now granted, I haven't seen the actual figures of this project, so my conclusions drawn may be somewhat off from the rigorous analysis that was most assuredly done. But ...

Looking at the outdoor usage, there is a huge distance between 60 million and 100 million gallons (or between 184 and 307 acre feet). If that is the amount that 1,200 folks would use, the usage would range from 137 to 228 gpcpd. Which is it?

According to Mesa's Water Sources , in 2005, 91 million gallons a day came from the Salt River Project (SRP) and the Central Arizona Project (CAP), which represented 77% of their usage. That leaves about one-quarter, or 30+ million gallons a day coming from groundwater sources.

Looking at it just in terms of quantity, then, the "100 million gallons of groundwater a year" may not look so bad, since that's only about three day's current usage of groundwater. But, ~450,000 customers equates to ~262 gpcpd. Unless the usage includes the amount artificially recharged, seems like a high per capita water usage, particularly in this age of water conservation, upcoming climate changes and so on.

"The project won't use any more water than one of Arizona's many golf courses." One might question whether those, at least as presently operated, represent an "appropriate use of water in a desert" and thus should be the compared use.

While "recreation is a very important part of a community," will the community be able to afford to recreate in the waterpark? Moreover, how smart is it to use resources, particularly if stressing the ability to supply future water needs, for such uses? Was this part of the community discussion --the allocation of future water resources to a recreation facility-- or was the emphasis on jobs needed now (7,500 jobs and will eventually generate more than $1 billion in revenue)?

While no real oppostion was mounted and the project was overwhemlming approved by the voters, there are still hurdles. I'm sure that questions similar to those posed above will be investigated during the permitting process.

While we may gasp and say, how can they do such a thing, many communities are faced with tough choices -- jobs now or water for the future. The project points out the need for issues, costs and benefits to be made clear to the community, both individually and collectively, as well as to decision makers.

By the way, if you go to the promoter's web site, check out the video. I wonder if the waves are going to look like the cool shots, or that maybe that's from Brazil? Do you think they'll have some parrots?

Water Wonk Elaine

[Michael Campana]

Hi, Ray.

The entire Waveyard complex will cover 125 acres - that includes shops, restaurants, etc. My understanding is that the actual "wave tank" will be smaller than 125 acres.

[Ray Walker]

Numbers may need revision...

125 acres one foot deep = 125 af X 325900 gal/af = 40.7 million gallons. Waveyard will only be 14-15 inches deep ?

Evaporation at Mesa can be expected to be 5ft per year. 125 acres X 5 ft = 625 af X 325900 gal/af = 203 million gallons. Projected evaporation and seepage is only 60-100 million gallons per year ... ?

"Watersource" promotes investigation of known Source of one million af of fresh water a year for AZ, NV and CA.
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