​HEALTHY RIVERS
WHITEWATER PARK

WAVE MODIFICATIONS UNDERWAY

WATCH THE LATEST UPDATE

WINTER 2020 PLANS

Construction Update - March 16, 2020 
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The permit for construction work occurring within the main channel has been extended from March 15th to March 20th. This is primarily due to very snowy and icy working conditions in January and February.

But make no mistake, the in-stream work is quickly winding down. The final stream-bed grading is underway and the river’s flow will be returned to the main channel by March 20th.

Once the main channel is flowing, the construction team will set about restoring the temporary diversion channel and other areas around the project site.

It’s difficult to know how COVID-19 may impact the timeline for the remainder of the project, but construction will continue as long as public health considerations allow.

We remain hopeful that all restoration and demobilization work associated with the project will be completed by the end of April or early May.

Thanks for your patience while we complete this important project. Your support for the park helps us maintain its underlying water right which is so critical to the future health of the Roaring Fork River.

​January 14, 2020 Press Release
Thanks to input from the community, Pitkin County will be making a few changes to the Healthy Rivers Whitewater Park in Basalt this winter. 

​In 2019, Healthy Rivers sought public comment on the whitewater park experience through an extensive outreach campaign. Though many park users reported enjoying the wave features, the river board also heard from those who felt the features make the river difficult to navigate at high water.
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“The goal of this winter’s work is to strike a better balance between the fun surfability of the waves and their high-water navigability. The end result will be wave features that are a bit easier for river runners to bypass at high flows,” said Pitkin County Healthy Rivers Board Chair, Andre Wille. 

​Healthy Rivers worked with consultants at River Restoration, the whitewater park’s original designers, to create plans for revising the wave features. Diggin’ It River Works, Inc. will construct the changes.
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The in-stream work is estimated to begin in mid-January and wrap-up by March 15th with streambank restoration finishing later this spring. Construction is permitted to occur Monday through Saturday between the hours of 7am to 7pm.

For safety reasons, the river channel from Fisherman’s Park through the project site will be closed to all public use for the duration of the instream work. The streambanks immediately adjacent to construction will also be closed to public access while work is underway.

The whitewater park’s success remains critical to maintaining Pitkin County’s Recreation In-Channel Diversion (RICD) water right that protects critical in-stream flows from being diverted out of the Roaring Fork River in the future.

According to Wille, “The key to maintaining the RICD water right is being able to prove the community enjoys the wave features. That’s why this fine-tuning is so important.”

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PREVIOUS 2020 CONSTRUCTION UPDATES

1/14/2020

2/20/2020

WATCH HOW THE PARK
​PROTECTS YOUR RIVER

In consideration of increasing demand on our water resources, and the potential impacts of climate change, Pitkin County Healthy Rivers has advanced a community plan to implement a Recreational In-Channel Diversion (RICD).  The RICD is a water right that confers to Pitkin County the right to call water down the Roaring Fork to the whitewater park site, located just upstream from the Roaring Fork's confluence with the Fryingpan River.

In order to call water, Pitkin County was required to install in-stream diversion structures (wave features) that put the water to beneficial use. In the case of this RICD, that beneficial use is recreation (wave surfing) at the whitewater park.

Of course, there are many other important benefits to the RICD keeping water in the river. It secures a future that keeps seasonal flows in the Roaring Fork, maintains healthy river ecology, adds to our diverse recreational resources, and creates an opportunity for citizens of Basalt, Pitkin County, and the entire Roaring Fork community to discuss and plan new ways to enjoy our beloved river. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE
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PITKIN COUNTY RICD WATER RIGHT

HISTORY OF THE PARK

Public planning
Late 2015 - Early 2016

​A series of public planning meetings was held to gather public input on the project. The meetings helped determine the stream-side amenities that will eventually accompany the two whitewater features planned for the park.


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Wave construction
Late 2016 - Early 2017​

Between September 2016 and March 2017, two splashy, fun play waves were constructed in the river. The whitewater park and the RICD (Recreational In-channel Diversion) water right it represents were officially dedicated on June 30, 2017. A raft carrying the 5-member Pitkin County Board of Commissioners was the first "official" craft to bust through the new features. Thankfully, they didn't flip! 

Wave adjustments
Early 2018​

Pitkin County performed maintenance on the Healthy Rivers Whitewater Park in February and early March 2018. The primary purpose of the maintenance was to make improvements to downriver boat passage. The left wing of each wave feature was modified to create a route at flows above 2,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) that bypasses the main hydraulic formed by each feature. 
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WHAT'S IN A WAVE?
​WATCH AND FIND OUT!

We documented the original 2016-2017 construction of the whitewater park through a series of videos.

8/24/2016

9/1/2016

9/23/2016

9/30/2016

10/5/2016

10/20/2016

12/5/2016

12/12/2016

1/9/2017

2/2/2017

3/15/2017

6/5/2017