divefreaky
Guest
im not sure if its been addressed or not but does anyone have any info whether or not madison aquatic park is going to reopen?
madison aquatic park
- Thread starter divefreaky
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
www.scubamazing.com
Guest
- Messages
- 652
- Reaction score
- 1
I checked out the website: http://www.madisonaquaticpark.org/
Looks like it hasn't been updated since 2004. I don't think it looks good. A search on Google-News didn't yield any info. about it either.
Looks like it hasn't been updated since 2004. I don't think it looks good. A search on Google-News didn't yield any info. about it either.
mike_s
Contributor
divefreaky:
Madison Aquatic Park which was operated by Rock Divers closed in 2005 by the primary owner of Rock Divers after he failed to pay the rent to the City. (The City of Madison owned the quarry).
The city didn't know what to do with the quarry and made a "deal" with the Water Board to swap it to them for use as a water source since they always have problems with their wells to provide drinking water, etc. The past president of the water board, who just retired, saw the quarry as a way to save them from their water problems. So they made the land swap and the quarry was going to be a water source. Problem is, that no one checked to see if it was a viable water source. D'oh!. They also didn't have ADEM (Alabama Department of Environmental Management) approval yet to use it as a water source.
So after the land swap deal was made, the water board did a pump test of the quarry and pumped 2000 gallons per hour out of the quarry 24 hours a day for 14 days. This dropped the water level about 13 feet. The second part of the test was to see how fast the springs in the quarry would refill the quarry. 6 months later the quarry still hasn't refilled yet but maybe a foot or two. hmmm.... looks like they bought a hole in the ground instead of a water source huh? (yep!).
Then ADEM told them if they wanted to use it as a water source for 20 million gallons they woul have to put 35 million gallons into the quarry first. Another D'oh! because this would require them to buy water from Huntsville, which is what they were trying to avoid in the first place.
About two months ago, the city council sent out an email that the quarry was not considered a viable water source but it's still being determined that it might be used as an emergency source for peak periods. (But that's still up in the air).
This past summer, the quarry was operated under a one year contract with the waterboard as Aqualine Aquatic Park by the previous owner of Aqualine and his business partner, plus the help of others. The Water Board let them operate it under contract to local dive shops and public saftey diver organizations for training. One local dive shop offered the quarry open to it's customers about twice a month for most of the summer and fall and several other not local shops used it for classes. At the end of the year the water board was happy with how the quarry had been run.
Next year the water board is interested in having the quarry operated again and they are working on completing the contract. So unless there is a problem, the quarry will be open again next year for diving. They plan on having an air compressor and rental tanks there next year. They will most likely have more availability this year also as they have more time to plan and get ready for the dive season whereas last year the contract wasn't completed until summer.
Note: The lower water levels haven't presented a problem except you can't use the docks for entry and have to do a sloped shore entry on the roadbed. The lower levels did allow for the thermocline to completly go away by mid summer with bottom temps of 86f. This was great because you could ditch the 5mm suit and dive it in a shorty. (water levels were at about 37 to 40 feet this summer instead of 45 to 55 feet).
The above URL is one that was operated by Rock Divers and I imagine that whenever the hosting fee is used up that site will disappear just like Rock Divers site did. Aqualine plans to have a new site up with quarry information next year after the contract is complete. They've got some other plans for the quarry also, but I'm sure that'll be on their site as to when that stuff will happen.
So things look good for diving there next year.
In the long run, these new changes in management will be better for the local dive community and I think everyone will be happy with them.
Hope this helps some.
-Mike
OP
divefreaky
Guest
thanks a lot mike.
utdivermatt
Contributor
Wow, Thanks for the info Mike. Always the resident expert on whats going on in Huntsville...
By the way? Dont you have a new baby to attend to, as opposed to making these long posts?
By the way? Dont you have a new baby to attend to, as opposed to making these long posts?
mike_s
Contributor
utdivermatt:
Yup. He's almost 6 weeks old and doing great!
See Daddy's New Dive Buddy (8 lbs, 11oz's)
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=168100
utdivermatt
Contributor
Yet you still respond within 15 minutes of my post...
mike_s
Contributor
utdivermatt:
heh... that's because I'm not at home with the baby yet! It's amazing how your lack of time changes when he's there with you.
utdivermatt
Contributor
You sure your reason for not being home isn't ScubaBoard? Somehow I see you 'working late' to post what you can....
Peter Buzzacott
Registered
G'day all
Any word on the success or otherwise of Aqualine Aquatic Park? Can't seem to find them on Google.
Would be a terrible waste to lose a cracking scuba park with a genuine rocket (and a fighter jet). Was the rent too high do you think? That's what happened down here at Rottnest Island. Five years ago it was an international diving destination, then we had a change of government, rents went up, the dive shop closed, now you cannot learn to dive there, rent gear, etc.
Or... perhaps the local dive market is so small for Madison Aquatic Park that a different management model might have been more successful, like a club-based model (like the PDRA)?
Peter
Any word on the success or otherwise of Aqualine Aquatic Park? Can't seem to find them on Google.
Would be a terrible waste to lose a cracking scuba park with a genuine rocket (and a fighter jet). Was the rent too high do you think? That's what happened down here at Rottnest Island. Five years ago it was an international diving destination, then we had a change of government, rents went up, the dive shop closed, now you cannot learn to dive there, rent gear, etc.
Or... perhaps the local dive market is so small for Madison Aquatic Park that a different management model might have been more successful, like a club-based model (like the PDRA)?
Peter
Similar threads
