Ski resort turns sewage into snow

After a dismal start to the season for the second straight year, Colorado's ski resorts are finally getting the snow they depend on. Colorado Ski Country USA reported total skier visits at its 21 member resorts dropped 11.5% during the first period of the ski season, which ranges from opening day through New Year's Eve.

The marketing research firm IBISWorld reports that while the economic recovery is expected to bring more people to the nation's slopes, climate change is straining operations at many resorts. When natural snowfall can't be relied on, resorts resort to making their own snow. But man-made snow has its own challenges.

Environmental Research Web says about 30% of the water used in snow production is lost to evaporation -- and that the process puts additional stress on water supplies and ecosystems in areas that have only limited water resources.

The lack of dependable, natural snow is prompting some in the industry to take controversial measures. The Arizona Snowbowl near Flagstaff has become the first ski resort to use only effluent water for its artificial snow.

According to the New York Times, the U.S. Forest Service says the treated water is already used to keep many parks and golf courses green, and is treated to a standard just below drinking water level. And in the case of Arizona Snowbowl, a regional forester told the Times the artificial snow "allows for a more consistent ski season, bringing money into neighboring Flagstaff, which contracted to sell Snowbowl the water from its sewage treatment plant."

But the project has come under fire from several directions. Local Native American groups consider the mountain sacred and unsuccessfully fought in court to halt what they consider a desecration. Environmentalists, meanwhile, believe chemicals and bacteria found in the effluent water may be harmful to the local environment, as well as to skiers and snowboaders.

But analysts say using effluent water may become a national trend.

"The utilization of alternatives to pure water is the wave of the future,” John Rosenberg, fund manager at Loughlin Water Partners LP, recently told Bloomberg. “It seems almost inevitable, unless we find another means of making snow.”

There's a lot of money at stake here. IBISWorld reports U.S. snow and ski resorts bring in about $3 billion in revenue, and that has increased annually by 1.4% between 2007 and last year.

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