The Snowbowl Ski Resort in Flagstaff, Arizona is going to start pumping 180 million gallons of recycled wastewater and freeze it into snow to cover the mountain when they’re low on real snow. Due to unpredictable weather patterns, Snowbowl sought and received approval to create artificial snow back in 2005. The stinky snow is already getting negative attention by the Hopi Tribe who sued Flagstaff last Friday because they don’t want the sewage water running on their sacred land.
The Snowbowl Ski Resort plans to build a 1.5-mile pipeline from the city that will go to a reservoir. It’s from here that the resort will derive their tainted water.
In a statement on the Hopi Tribe webite, they explain:
The contract provides for the use of reclaimed wastewater in a mountain setting where runoff and overspray cannot be prevented, as Arizona law requires. Additionally, restrictions on limiting human contact with wastewater cannot be met, and harm to the unique alpine environment in the area, including rare animals and plants, cannot be prevented. The contract is also illegal under Arizona law because it will result in unreasonable environmental degradation and will further deplete limited drinking water resources.
I know where I’ll be snowboarding this winter.
[via: Fast Company]
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