Recent death at whitewater park the reason behind sudden decision to delay Texas pool?
As reported here two days ago, Wavegarden’s newest location, the yet-to-open NLand Surf Park in Texas, has been hit with a lawsuit for failing to comply with county safety codes.
As first revealed by the Austin American Statesman newspaper,
According to Attorneys for NLand and Travis County have been negotiating for months over whether the lagoon counts as a public swimming pool and, thus, requires a permit. NLand believes it does not, arguing that the rainwater-fed lagoon is more similar to a lake.
State law defines a swimming pool as any “artificial body of water, including a spa, maintained expressly for public recreational purposes.” It requires pools to administer chlorine to keep bacteria from exceeding safe limits and meet other sanitary requirements.
And that, as they say, is the rub.
See, on June 19, a teenager rafter died of a brain-eating amoeba after a trip to the US National Whitewater Center, home to the “world’s largest manmade whitewater river”.
From CNN:
It’s also one of only three such systems in the United States that are not required to be regularly tested for pathogens, said Cope. According to local health officials, that’s because it’s viewed as more of a river, even though the park is made of concrete channels that recirculate 12 million gallons of water from the city’s municipal water system, some water wells and rain.
The center was “not required to be a regulated facility, but that is being questioned for the future,” Mecklenburg County Medical Director Dr. Stephen Keener said.
Being killed by brain-eating amoebas isn’t the prettiest way to die. Convulsions, seizures, vomiting and hallucinations all intrude before a welcome death.
Therefore, NLand Surf Park, I’m guessing, has run into a wall of sudden health concerns. Which is a sonofabitch when you’re almost ready to flip the open sign.
In a press release this morning, the park says,
NLand will not open until we can assure our guests the park will meet the highest standards for quality and safety. We are disappointed the county commissioners would take such drastic measures, without explanation. We look forward to creating a win-win solution for Travis County, NLand and most importantly the millions of surfers and surfers-to-be worldwide. And,
On a positive note, Surf Texas photographer Kenny Braun captured this image of one of our first waves and we wanted to share it.
Ironically, on the same day the commissioners voted to sanction our park, we hosted an orientation for over 150 new team members, more than 50 of whom are from Del Valle and Cedar Creek. Team members gathered on the pier for a group shot to commemorate the first week of orientation and training.
Does brain-eating amoeba concern you? Or are you ready to crack this thing open?
Brain eating amoeba are in all Texas lakes too, but we don’t ban lakes from swimming.
Real funny story about Mr Coors. When he was a younger lad, he came to the Outer Banks and worked one season as a mate with Capt Marty out of Oregon Inlet. One day leaving late, Capt Marty asked him to grab a bucket of water. Mr Coors chose the wonderful idea of holding a bucket over the port side of the vessel and was apparently ripped right off the boat into the atlantic. I say apparently because Capt Marty didnt find out till about an hour or two later when another boat called over the radio to say they had something that belonged to him, his mate. So NLand isnt the first on the list of bad decisions he has made…
I’ll just leave this here: http://www.citizen-times.co…
This is the perfect opportunity to control the surfers population. They should carry on with this wavegarden
That wave looks fucked just like Wales is no steepness to face.
And here I thought most Texans had some sort of intelligence-devouring amoeba already! Especially those on school boards and state government.
They do it’s called the bush family. The Kardashians of politics.
I never thought I’d say this, but even the Kardashians don’t deserve that comparison.
And here I was thinking it was Disneyland’s crocodiles snatching children that could have been the issue.
-Disney Worlds’s alligators, no gators in Cal
Sorry!! I’m from the wrong hemisphere to know the difference! all look like bitey dinosaurs to me.
To be fair we have both saltwater crocs and gators, now giant pythons that rule the wetlands thanks to hurricane Andrew, also the “snakeheads” you ever seen a fish with vampire teeth cross a road? I have, we are fucked!
We have Snakeheads in NYC, I haven’t caught one yet but I hear they give a great fight and are very tasty(not that I would eat anything from the lakes in the city). Florida is crazy though between the native animals and the invasive theres a lot of things that want to kill you.
They fight well, if you catch them by law you can’t release them or its like 150$ fine? We had like 4 in a dry livewell, in 98° temps and they lived out of the water for over 8 hours, They can breath air!
they eat the topwater pretty good, right?
They eat EVERYTHING there are two different subspecies,I believe, the ” asian” and get “giant” the giants are known for eating fish half their size if provoked more territorial than hunger, they are cocksuckers .
nightmare, we only worry about quagga/zebra mussels out west. bass are smart as shit though, 4lbers have graduate degrees.
The problem is the snakeheads eat most the bass fry in the canals, private man made ponds are the last hold out for largemouth, and we pull some big ones out, if you have the boat you can go down to dade county and get peacock bass all day, really one of the most beautiful fish I’ve ever caught. But in the canals and mosquito ditches, almost nothing but snakeheads and gators.
least you’ve got short winters and peacocks can make it through. Fla strain bass still do good out here in SoCal, they just get so much pressure, millions of people sharing lakes you can get corner to corner to in 10 minutes. kinda like Lowers.
So I’m assuming the guy with the 180hp engine on a 15ft skiff is the same thing as let’s say a donkey on a 13ft. Skip frye at lowers. That dude is famous for being a world class dueshe. Even in Florida! ( if you know the buttcrack showing going straight motherfucker I’m talking about.)
exactly. give em a pass on the St John’s river or something but out here that’s all ego. I fish out of a 15ft aluminum with a 15hp and a 50lb bow mount troll motor. can get back to the ramp on batteries if it came to that.
Its all fun and games until a guy in a candy metal flake boat comes flying in wearing a nascar suit with a fishfinder that could find bin ladens body, throwing a godamn baitcaster shows up.
If i didn’t know any better I’d think i was talking to todd…
nah, not Kline. fish most of the same lakes though, cept the private ones.
I didn’t know it was that bad down there. They have been in the Potamac River system for 10+ years and the Bass are thriving.
I think it has to do with the water never getting below 75° plus in the shallows where the sun can heat up the water they can out last almost anything. FWC will fine you if you toss them back second offense is like losing your fishing license, they are pretty damn serious. I mostly fish snook and trout but we’ve been having toxic algae blooms in brackish and salt water estuaries so, a lot of guys are just getting in to it, some guys target the snake heads, the Filipino people buy them by the ton in opalocka ( I’m not from the super ghetto so not sure if that’s the proper spelling )and riviera area.
Any theories as to what is causing the blooms? We in the panhandle are seeing this as well as bad rashes of red tide. Last October was as bad as I have ever seen red tide. I saw all sorts of dead or dying species that before last season seemed to be immune. I actually got fusobacterium necrophorum in my sinuses and had to have it surgically removed. The doctors won’t say it but I know I got it from the water/red tide. I feel it is caused by runoff water that flows into our bay system right out of the storm water drains. Of course no “scientists” will come out and say they have any data to support such a silly theory. They claim it’s a natural occurance…
Well there’s a clusterfuck of issues, mainly down here it’s agriculture back pumping phosphate and nitrogen rich fresh water in to traditional brackish environments. The algae has always been there but we’re essentially giving them steroids, as the oxygen content and salinity rates fall, the algae thrives and creates new, “super breeds” of the shit, on top of that we have golf courses dumping waste leaking septic tanks all compiling on the floor of lake O, when they literally open the flood gates all the toxins are dropped in to a fragile eco system, the sheet flow needs to be restored, where the wetlands can filter the waste water, the way it’s supposed to but Dixie crystals and others have 99yr land leases and expansion plans in place to make sure they can keep producing essentially a legal drug. Up there I think the discharges although way south of you are working their way up the coast, as well as high water temperatures, is the culprit but here in Jensen beach i can throw a frisbee and it wouldn’t sink, it would sit on the acid trip purple blue piles, that i might add smells like rotting boddies, there’s actually a shortage of respirators with organic filters because we are wearing them to work, drive and anywhere near a body of water that has the build up. So many factors, but i have visable soars on my throat back and legs, as i was commercial diving when it really started. We are fucked.
And if you’re black, you’re even more fucked.
And I also heard recently that they found a few Nile crocodiles in Florida, the man-eating type . . . probably the terrorists that let those buggers loose.
Totally Obama’s fault. Damnit obummer!
Lol; Obama!!! No!!! He must be stopped!!!
I wanna see a birth certificate! (See’s birth certificate) it’s a forgery! No but for real, can we get an IQ test for these people who are going to give a carrot ( with small hands) nuclear armaments? I’m not popular lord knows i don’t want either to win but I just don’t want to be known as the country that was so spitefull of a man of color being president, that we elect a fucking crazy trustafarian who thinks he made it because of a small loan ” and a huge penis “. Might i also add the ‘small loan’ was a million fuckin dollars!?! Who fails with a mil??? Oh right george W edit Bob mcnight 5 times. Rant over. We’re fucked and I’m moving to timbuktu or some shit.
You too?
“We look forward to creating a win-win solution for Travis County, NLand and most importantly the millions of surfers and surfers-to-be worldwide.”
Millions of surfers-to-be….ahhhhhh fuck this
Go Amoeba Go! Go Amoeba Go! Go Amoeba Go!
This Coors fucker is mad; millions of new surfers? Wtf, no surfer would say that in a happy sentence. New theory: the string puller off Travis County has a super hot cousin, who married a North Shore surfer; said North Shore surfer threatened to cut off Travis County shot caller’s balls if he/she didn’t shut this shit down.
now you’re talkin
Somewhere greg webber is yelling ” My waves better, it only exists in my mind but I know my waves better ( uncontrollably sobbing)”