September 9, 2010

PROSLIDE TECHNOLOGY INC.

A mid-construction shot of The Racer, a ride developed by ProSlide Technology Inc. for Adventure Island Waterpark in the U.S.

FOCUS | Sewer & Watermain

Water parks require special solutions for supply

PETER KENTER

correspondent

With a slate of current projects in Canada, the U.S., Australia, Colombia, South Korea, Dubai, China and Denmark, an Ottawa engineering company is a force to be reckoned with.

The fact that ProSlide Technology Inc. is a world leader in the custom design, engineering and manufacturing of fibreglass water rides makes it unique.

“The type of infrastructure we develop to support a ride is dependent on a host of factors,” says Jeff Janovic, vice-president of sales with ProSlide. “Is the water park located inside or outside? Does it involve a lot of rides concentrated in a small area or is it spread over a large area?”

A typical slide ride could require the movement of 2,000 to 3,000 gallons per minute, says Janovic. “Expand that to a flume ride for four or five people and you triple the water usage to between 8,000 and 10,000 gallons per minute.”

The infrastructure design for a water park depends entirely on the ride design, though the elements are common: water pipes, pumps, filters and mechanical services such as gas and electricity.

“Whether those systems are consolidated into a single mechanical room or spread out across the park depends on the water park,” says Janovic. “Typically, an indoor park will have one mechanical room, while a large outdoor park may have several.”

Much of the infrastructure engineering for ProSlide is handled by aquatics consulting firm Water Technology of Beaver Dam, Wisc. The company designs both water parks and rides, but relies on ProSlide for spectacular slide designs.

Water Technology principal Matt Freeby points out that, despite what you might think, water parks don’t use much water at all.

“They’re essentially self-contained systems,” says Freeby.

There’s a little water loss, primarily due to evaporation, “splash-out” and “carry-out”—whatever is stuck to the swimmers body and clothing. The largest consumer of water is the backwash of the water filtration systems.

“It doesn’t matter what sort of filter we use — media filtration, sand filtration — they all need to be backwashed,” says Nick Neuman, project development experts with Water Technology. “Often, we’ll use this grey water to flush toilets or for irrigation — anything to use the water in some way instead of sending it down the sewer.”

Any water park starts out with a plan, but there’s no set method of planning the water infrastructure. Sometimes attractions are developed first, and at other times infrastructure is planned alongside ride development.

“Generally, construction begins with the layout of the mechanical,” says Freeby. “We’ll dig the pools and lay the pool piping and then work from the mechanical to the pool and from the pool to the mechanical. For a water park, the three most important demands from an infrastructure perspective are water, electricity and gas.”

Water lines are typically Schedule 80 PVC in sizes ranging from four inches to 14 inches in diameter, with some mains coming in at 24 inches.

How is water moved to the attractions? A simple question with a complex answer.

A common slide ride will typically have a dedicated pump, pulling water from a nearby pool and then replenishing it from the end of the slide.

“Typically, we want each slide to have its own pump because they have a high water demand,” says Freeby. “If we have a problem with a pump, we don’t want six or eight slides at various points in the park going down all at once.”

However, the water in a wave pool isn’t pumped to create wave action.

“It’s actually a matter of transferring energy through the water using a pressure system,” says Freeby. “We have three to five chambers full of water and force air into the chambers to get the motion with that. You’re not really moving the water so much as creating turbulence. The water isn’t moving — the energy is moving through the water.”

Compressed air will also drive water to produce special effects.

Neuman says that the company often uses local labour wherever it builds infrastructure. About 10 per cent of the projects are design-build and another 10 are turnkey projects with the company providing everything down to staff training. Water Technology, for example, has provided turnkey projects for the entire Great Wolf Lodge chain, including the Niagara Falls, Ont. location.

Neuman’s favourite ride so far: a 360 degree loop slide developed by ProSlide. Freeby’s favourite is ProSlide’s Tornado.

“I have a couple of product testers at home — my two kids,” he says. “The reaction the first time they went down that Tornado flume was priceless.”

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