Environmental Fun in the Snow, Canada

The thrill of speeding down a snow-covered hill in an inflatable tube is what brings the crowds to Kitchener’s Chicopee Tube Park.

But the popular winter attraction is earning rave reviews for considering the environment as part of its winter operations. At the Ontario Tourism Awards of Excellence Gala held November 22^nd in Ottawa, Chicopee Tube Park was awarded the Sustainable Tourism Award for its successful efforts to capture and reuse rain and melting snow to keep snow on its hills during the colder months.

“Every year, we were seeing all of our snow simply melt away, running off into nearby waterways or seeping into the ground,” says Bob Harris, General Manager of Chicopee Tube Park. “It was a waste of resources, so we decided to do something about it. With rising costs across the board, especially when it comes to utilities, our action has likely kept Chicopee Tube Park open for tonnes of winter fun.”

In an effort to reduce electricity costs and remove its reliance on municipal water to make artificial snow, Chicopee Tube Park designed and built a holding pond to capture melting snow, rainwater and storm water runoff. Last winter, every drop of the four million gallons of water needed to make artificial snow for the attraction came from this new holding pond. Not only did this reuse a valuable resource, it saved the park $39,000 in water costs and $6,000 in electricity, for an overall savings of $45,000.

The holding pond created an infrastructure system that is renewable and will capture on-site storm water from this point in time onward.The cost savings of this project were made possible with the support of several community partners, including:

· Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro, energy conservation program

· Region of Waterloo WET Program

· City of Kitchener REEP Green Solutions.

“This was a tall order, and it could not have been done without the outstanding support and contributions of our partners,” says Harris.

Chicopee Tube Park was nominated for the recognition by the Waterloo Region Tourism Marketing Corporation, which is now seeking a “Green Seal” certification from the Ontario Tourism Association, a new environmental initiative.

“What Chicopee Tube Park did is no small feat,” says Minto Schneider, Chief Executive Officer of Waterloo Region Tourism. “It has shown that finding environmentally sustainable solutions makes good business sense.”

Ontario Tourism Industry award honors were presented in five categories, includingTourism Innovator of the Year, Tourism Event of the Year, Tourism Champion of the Year, Tourism Employer of the Year, Sustainable Tourism Award, andOntario’s Accessible Tourism.

For more information, please visit www.explorewaterlooregion.com, or connect with Waterloo Tourism on social media; Like it on Facebook and Follow on Twitter @ExploreWR.