今年夏天在阿拉巴马州蒙哥马利完成的7500万美元的白水公园不在河床上建立，而是在坐在陆地上的两个蜿蜒的铸造式凝结通道上建立，高度下降了22英尺。这些频道将获得1200万加仑的过滤水，并在奥林匹克级的白水课程中为专业皮划艇提供一个练习的场所，初学者是学习和娱乐的地方。

“What’s crazy about it is you’re just starting from scratch,” without the need to consider floodplains, scour sediment transport or other concerns for in-stream modifications, says Scott Shipley, founder of whitewater design and developer S20 Design and Engineering, which is creating the 120-acre蒙哥马利白水，包括II-IV类白水以及商业设施和其他户外设施，其中包括岩壁和高绳索课程。

“Here, it’s just a totally blank canvas," adds Shipley, an engineer and three-time Olympic games competitor, who holds four world titles over a 25-year kayaking career. Other partners include JESCO, Inc., Goodwyn Mills Cawood and Liquid Design Architecture.

在泥土中画一条河流带来挑战。其中包括在大多数平坦的地点上所需的分级来创建22英尺高的海拔下降。

几次大风暴使工作更加复杂。希普利说：“您将按照您想要的方式对所有这些频道进行评分，准备倒入[混凝土]，然后墙壁倒塌。”

这些通道深16英尺，大约30英尺，尽管设计扩大并缩小以创建不同的白水特征，通常需要在混凝土的6-8英寸之间。频道走廊，包括用于奥运会团队试验或国家级比赛的两侧设备的步道和空间，宽70英尺。

The floor of the channels will be outfitted withRapidBlocs这是由希普利（Shipley）专利的系统，该系统使用混凝土通道地板上的金属导轨将可移动的障碍物块附着，以在通道中创建各种和可变的白水特征。

希普利说：“从一个过程中，我们试图创造湍流并试图创建液压技术使其变得有趣。”“那部分很难。（您需要）真正认识怀特沃特的人创造了一个对奥运会运动员和初学者来说令人兴奋的画布。”

该过程的一部分是在捷克共和国构建的1:20量表和1：900的流量模型以及多个3D模型，但是希普利所说的最有趣的方面是大型抽水站。

当他的团队在工作US National Whitewater Centerin Charlotte, he says they were ordering the Sweden-made pumps at the same time FEMA was ordering the same pumps to help dry out the Ninth Ward in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The Montgomery project will use five of the largest submersible pumps in the world, capable of filling a swimming pool in 22 seconds, or moving up to 180 cu ft of water per second.

希普利说：“如果您站在它的前面，那就像站在山洪洪水面前一样。”“我做到了。它扫出您的脚，带您下游。”

泵站大部分位于现场，游客将穿过它，从登机楼到木筏建筑物。机械建筑物的过滤和治疗也是在渠道中。希普利说，当该地点与阿拉巴马河接壤时，公园的水将来自水龙头，经过治疗和过滤类似于游泳池。沿河的财产最终将用于小径。

Plans also call for a basecamp building to house ticketing facilities and an outfitter shop with restrooms, a restaurant building with catering kitchen and meeting space, a raft barn, pavilions, hotel and more.

Building the Park, Building the Community

“The idea is the easiest part,” says Megan McKenzie, partner with the Southern Whitewater Development Group (SWDG). “Ideas are easy, but making them possible is what is the most amazing part of where we are and how we got here.”

McKenzie says the local community, including the Montgomery city and county governments, has pushed the project to where it is since she had the idea more than eight years ago.

蒙哥马利县社区合作区是由蒙哥马利市，蒙哥马利县和蒙哥马利县住房局拥有该设施的代表创建的，SWDG与合作社合同开发和运营该设施。

麦肯齐说，当它开放时，它将与美国的美国国家怀特沃特中心（Charlotte）和俄克拉荷马城俄克拉荷马城怀特沃特公园（Oklahoma City Whitewater Park）一起，仅是美国的三分之一。该公园已经开始引起蒙哥马利的发展兴趣，就像这些设施在北卡罗来纳州和俄克拉荷马州一样。

“This is such a unicorn that we are able to attract some really cool businesses that maybe we would have had trouble landing before,” McKenzie says.

The Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce has already been利用发展in recruiting new industry, giving helicopter tours of the under-construction project to companies eyeing the area for billion-dollar projects, McKenzie says. That has helped elected officials get behind the project, she adds.

Elected officials see this as a catalyst for high-quality development, she says.

An as-yet confidential hotel project is being pursued by a separate developer at the site, and along Maxwell Boulevard on the other side of the whitewater center’s parking lot, SWDG will work with developers to attract like-minded businesses like breweries, restaurants and more to a pedestrian-focused ancillary development.

希普利说，所有这些都可以在一个不一定以白水或户外休闲闻名的地区创建白水和户外枢纽，就像2006年国家怀特沃特中心在夏洛特发生的那样。

Charlotte, a banking and NASCAR town, is now seen as an outdoor destination thanks to that facility, with the Whitewater Center now that city’s No. 1 attraction, seeing about 250,000 visitors a year—only about 25% of whom actually get in the water.

“There is absolutely going to be a large community,” McKenzie says. “We are providing access to people who maybe have never heard about the sport, never felt safe in a natural river, to get out to Montgomery Whitewater, watch people and think, ‘Maybe I can do it.’”

希普利说，他们在蒙哥马利的目标是从伯明翰，亚特兰大和乔治亚州哥伦布等周围地区建立相同的文化在蒙哥马利度过一些时间。他补充说，使该项目与众不同的一件事是它靠近阿拉巴马州国会大厦市的市区，即65和85号州际公路，而麦克斯韦空军基地就在隔壁。

“I’m shocked that no one has developed this area before,” McKenzie says. “But once we saw the plans it was kind of a no-brainer.”