Artificial whitewater

An artificial whitewater course (AWWC) is a site for whitewater canoeing, whitewater kayaking, whitewater racing, whitewater rafting, playboating and slalom canoeing with artificially generated rapids.

Eiskanal in Augsburg, Germany

Kayaking and Rafting at Holme Pierrepont, England

U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, North Carolina

The Teesside White Water Course

Rafting and canoeing at Dutch Water Dreams

Course types

Main types of course:

Flow diversion

These work by diverting a natural river through boulder placement or damming, or by creating new channels next to an existing river, possibly by a weir or power station outflow.

Tidal action

Created in estuaries with large tidal reaches, on a barrage across the river. The barrage is opened during a rising high tide to allow the sea water in, then shut as the tide turns. The water stored above the barrage is then forced through an artificial channel to provide water features.

Pumped

The nature of artificial whitewater courses necessitates the need for a drop in the river, and enough water flow to provide hydraulics. When this isn't possible (often in flat low-lying areas), electric pumps are used to lift and re-circulate the water to the top of the course. The shapes of these courses are commonly circular or U-shaped.

Pumped courses are extremely expensive to run, typically 1-2 megawatts of electrical power are needed to pump 15 cubic metres per second of water down a course with a 5-meter drop in height.

Olympic whitewater courses

1972 - Augsburg Eiskanal in Augsburg, Germany — flow diversion
1992 - Segre Olympic Park in La Seu d'Urgell, Spain — flow diversion/pumped
1996 - Ocoee Whitewater Center near Copperhill, Tennessee, USA — altered riverbed
2000 - Penrith Whitewater Stadium, near Sydney, Australia — pumped
2004 - Hellinikon Olympic Canoe/Kayak Slalom Centre, Athens, Greece — pumped
2008 - Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, Beijing, China — pumped
2012 - Lee Valley White Water Centre, London, England — pumped
2016 - Deodoro Olympic Whitewater Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — pumped

Other notable courses

Adventure Sports Center International in McHenry, Maryland, USA — pumped
Canolfan Tryweryn near Bala, Gwynedd, North Wales — natural flow modifications
Cardington Artificial Slalom Course near Bedford, England — flow diversion
Dickerson Whitewater Course in Dickerson, Maryland, USA — pumped
Dutch Water Dreams in Zoetermeer, Netherlands — pumped
Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham, England — flow diversion
U.S. National Whitewater Center, near Charlotte, North Carolina, USA — pumped
Nene Whitewater Centre in Northampton, England — pumped
Rutherford Creek in British Columbia, Canada — flow diversion
Tacen Whitewater Course near Ljubljana, Slovenia — flow diversion
Tees Barrage International White Water Course in Stockton-on-Tees, England — converted from tidal to pumped in 2010/2011
Čunovo Water Sports Centre near Čunovo, Slovakia — flow diversion
Canal de aguas bravas, Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain[1]
Wadi Adventure in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates — pumped[2]

Under planning or construction

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References

Parque del Agua "Luis Buñuel" http://www.parquedelagua.com/parque-del-agua. Retrieved 10 February 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
Wadi Adventure https://www.wadiadventure.ae/. Retrieved 10 February 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Parque del Agua "Luis Buñuel" http://www.parquedelagua.com/parque-del-agua. Retrieved 10 February 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)

[2] Wadi Adventure https://www.wadiadventure.ae/. Retrieved 10 February 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)