By Greg Keller
Located in the famous tourist town of Niagara Falls, Ont., visitors will find a first-class family camping resort that was outgrowing its existing water play amenities. When the owners of Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp Resort Niagara Falls decided to build an addition to their existing pool, they decided to go big—with a massive new splash pad and a large aqua playground for guests of all ages to enjoy. They also upgraded the pool’s filtration rate and system during this renovation, installing a regenerative filter that filters down to one micron.
While this article will focus on the aqua playground and the recirculation and filtration systems for it and the pool, this multimillion-dollar expansion also included a new mechanical and washroom building, a new dry playground, relocation of the jumping pillow, relocation of the vast inflatable waterslide, and new fencing all around the new aqua playground. This campground resort now has everything to keep kids of all ages busy and cooled off during the hot summer months.
Aqua playground
The new aqua playground has a surface area of 506 m2 (5,447 sf) and an elevated 53-m2 (570-sf) play area. Both areas are covered with safety flooring, so parents can rest assured that if their child happens to fall, they will not scrape their knees as they would on a concrete surface.
The concrete underneath the flooring is a 254-mm (10-in.)-thick structural slab, with individual footings for each of the aqua playground’s support columns. It is reinforced with 10M and 15M rebar, complete with an insulation layer of extruded polystyrene foam (XPS) insulation below.
One of the main visual attractions of this aqua playground is the giant tipping bucket, which is about 8 m (25 ft) high. Patrons wait under the splash zone, anticipating the deluge of water that will rain upon them—1,200 L (317 gal) to be exact.
A total of four waterslides are incorporated into this aqua playground, all of them being body slides. The longest is 28.5 m (93.5 ft), starting at 3.4 m (11 ft) in height. The second longest is 22.7 m (75 ft), starting at 3 m (10 ft) in height. The third one is 13 m (43 ft) long, starting at 2.4 m (8 ft) in height. Finally, the fourth waterslide is meant for smaller kids at 8 m (26 ft) in length, starting at 1.4 m (4.5 ft) in height.
In addition to the water slides and giant tipping bucket, this aqua playground has a plethora of other toys and features, including built-in floor sprays, arches, and bubblers. Go a little higher up in the structure, and patrons will find the net bridge. Guns, tipping cones, water wheels, and pull ropes are all present throughout the aqua playground, making for an incredible experience for people of all ages.
The water supply for all these slides and features is provided by an underground concrete holding tank with a water capacity of 12,200 gal (46,182 L). Two 7.5 horsepower pumps provide a filtration circulation rate of approximately 250 gallons per minute (GPM), turning over the water every 48 minutes. This is within the guidelines of the Ontario Health Code and ensures the water is thoroughly filtered for the patrons. The water in the holding tank is also recirculated 24 hours a day.
All underground piping for the drains and supply water is rigid schedule 40 polyvinyl chloride (PVC), while all above-ground and mechanical room piping is schedule 80 PVC. The piping sizes range from 508 mm (2 in.) for the water level controller in the holding tank to 355 mm (14 in.) for the drain piping to the splash pad to the holding tank. The filtration line is 152.4 mm (6 in.), along with each of the four supply lines to the aqua play structure, which is then diverted to all the water slides, water toys, and other features. The two feature pumps are 25 horsepower with 254 mm (10 in.) suction lines bushed down to 203 mm (8 in.) at the strainer. There are more than 40 valves in the mechanical room, ranging from 38 mm (1.5 in.) ball valves to 254 mm (10 in.) gear-operated butterfly valves.
Filtration system
A regenerative filter with a filter area of 19 m2 (214 sf) provides filtration for the aquatic playground. Its filtration rate is 1.17 (flow rate/filter area), which is right in the optimal range recommended by the manufacturer and filters down to one micron. This means the splash pad water is among the safest and cleanest available.
The owners wanted to provide their guests with the best water quality possible while doing their part for the environment. Regenerative filters are much better for the environment than traditional sand filters as they waste much less water and do not require backwashing like a sand filter. Remember, all the water being backwashed from sand filters is heated and chemically treated, so the savings also extend. Further, regenerative filters require the pump to use a variable frequency drive (VFD), which means substantial electrical savings as the pump can change its output based on the filter. As the filter gets dirty from filtering, it will ramp up to maintain the set flow rate. Once the filter regenerates and is clean again, it can ramp down. This means that, in the long run, the VFD pays for itself in electrical savings while extending the life of the pump since it does not run at full speed all the time and gets started and stopped slowly.
In addition to this state-of-the-art filtration system, a UV disinfection system was installed to ensure the water is safe per the Ontario Health Code. The aqua playground’s water temperature is typically between 20 C and 22 C (68 F and 72 F), heated by a 27-kW electric pool heater.
The pool
The existing pool also replaced its filtration system, alongside upgrades to the filtration rate. Two new wall drains and three new wall returns were added to the pool to increase its filtration rate. A completely new filtration system was installed for the pool in the new mechanical room, again utilizing another regenerative filter. The pool’s filtration rate is 0.77, with a new flow rate of 165 GPM. This means the pool water is being turned over every 5.5 hours, exceeding what the Ontario Health Code requires.
Further, the pool and aqua playground use a chemical control system that tests the water every second to ensure the pH, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), and free chlorine (FC) levels are within the set parameters. Each body of water requires its own chemical controller (e.g. pool and holding tank for aqua playground). Suppose the controller determines the pH is low, in that case, it will automatically feed muriatic acid (or CO2, depending on the source water) into the water until it reaches the desired level. It achieves this by activating the muriatic acid pump, a small peristaltic pump designed to feed liquid muriatic acid into the return line through its dedicated injector. Once the desired level is reached, the controller signals to turn the pump off, and no more muriatic acid is released.
It also works similarly for the sanitizer control function of the chemical controller system. Depending on which parameter is set to feed the chlorine, if the ORP or free chlorine probes detect lower levels than what it is set at, it will signal the liquid chlorine pump to turn on. The liquid chlorine pump is also a peristaltic pump that feeds the liquid chlorine from the bulk containment bin into the return line via the liquid chlorine injector. This technologically advanced system ensures the water is always within the prescribed ranges. The only thing the pool operator needs to do is ensure there is muriatic acid and liquid chlorine in the containment bins and that the lines are not clogged. The probes need to be changed every other year, and maintenance needs to be performed. For example, the poly tubes that carry the chemicals must be flushed regularly to avoid clogging up. If they do clog, the chemicals will look for the path of least resistance and start to leak at that point, which can damage anything underneath that leak point. If the lines are clogged, another obvious problem is the chemicals are not making it to the water as intended, meaning water will not be perfectly balanced to the parameters set.
If one finds themselves in the Niagara Falls region of Ontario and is on the hunt for a family-friendly campground experience like no other, Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp Resort Niagara Falls is the destination to consider.
Author
Greg Keller is a service and sales representative at Acapulco Pools Ltd., a commercial pool builder and service provider based in Kitchener, Ont. He graduated from Conestoga College’s architecture project and facility management program in 2011 and was hired by Acapulco upon graduation. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].
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