An idea whose time has come!

[silverweb]

Viva entrepreneurship!

"An Arizona real estate developer can't fathom raising his kids where they can't surf, kayak, and scuba dive. So he's moving to the coast building a 125-acre water park in the middle of the desert. Cowabunga, dud." _Grist_

"It's about delivering a sport that's not typically available in an urban environment," said Richard Mladick, a Mesa 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.

Mladick, 39, said 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," he said.

_original article_

I'm absolutely certain that this desert Wavepark will be built prudently and responsibly, and will benefit all the people of the region.

:sarcasm:

[TomInTib]

1. Wipeout on a twelve foot wave and spend a little time in this...

"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."

Where do I buy advance tickets?

[silverweb]

2. Yup, I saw that.

Makes sense, huh? Be careful not to swallow when you wipe out.

On the other hand, if they can make the water safe, why shouldn't it be treated and used for the general population, since this area is so desperate for water?

[TheMadMonk]

4. Chronic exposure's the problem with arsenic/heavy metal contamination..

You'd have to drink the water day in and day out for a long time to do yourself any damage.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Wouldn't it be cheaper to move the family to a place near water?

:shrug:

[silverweb]

5. Of course.

But the developer couldn't make a profit by doing that, could he?