Global surf tourism is valued at $50 billion per year. The waves could generate between $1,800,000 to $6,000,000 a year in new economic activity from wave users alone. Alberta has only minimal surf-related economic activity and this would be a new economic activity. Existing river waves around the world generate millions a year in economic activity for the surrounding areas.

The Bend, Oregon, river wave park generated $4,800,000 in economic impacts in 2017.

As of 2020, the early budget cost is $9,970,000 including 40% contingency.

The return on investment is estimated to be between 3 to 7 years. Return on investment is based on 9 months of usage. The usage was calculated based on other facilities in similar climates. The 3 year ROI includes all river wave park users including spectators.  The 7-year return only includes wave user spending with usage at 30% of capacity.

The average surfer spends $62.50 per surf session and makes on average $75,000 per year. The spending is based on lodgings, food, gas, equipment, and additional local spending.

The potential wave usage could provide a total of 100,000 two-hour-long surf sessions from March to November each year. This spending charts includes wave user spending and does not include spectator spending.

Spending numbers come from major US and UK studies of surfer spending.

Yes. River wave parks are proven economic activity generators with examples going back 35 years. Good, free-to-use river wave parks consistently generate millions in economic activity each year.

Every year there are new pumped wave facilities being constructed around the world that cost tens of millions of dollars and generate profits. There are multiple private, pay-to-use river wave parks around the world.

The current market rate for wave riding at a commercial facility is $1 / minute which means the wave usage at the Cochrane River Wave Park has a market value of over $3M at only 30% capacity.

The Cochrane wave would be predictable, if you plan a vacation a year in advance and spend thousands of dollars you know the waves will be there when you arrive. Wave users and spectators get more time with waves in one day in Cochrane than in a month at the ocean because river waves are always working.

Cochrane offers a huge variety of high-quality and other accessible attractions.

Yes, the economic impacts have taken Cochrane’s weather into account.

The winter months have no usage, spring and fall have reduced usage and the flood season has reduced usage. Wave users travel for predictable waves in cold weather.

There is heavy usage of the existing Kananaskis surf wave all year round. Bend, Oregon, with a similar river wave park has similar weather, and the park generated $4.8M in economic activity 1 year after opening. In the summer of 2017, the first full summer after opening, the Bend River Trail had 181,000 users. In all of 2017, the Bend River waves were estimated to have 17,000 to 33,000 visits and many times that the number of spectators.

Bend, Oregon, average temperatures

Cochrane, Alberta, average temperatures

There is no competition outside of the coasts and the southern United States. The closest good waves are over 1,000 kilometers away on the Pacific ocean.

The map below shows surf waves and is from MagicSeaweed (https://magicseaweed.com/). The light blue markers are ocean waves. The blue dots are consistent river waves. The red dot is the Project location.

In the US, houses within walking distance of a surf break showed that houses close to a surf break had an increased value of $100,000 compared to houses further away from a surf break.

At this time, no money is coming from the Town of Cochrane taxes and no money will be requested for the next few stages. The money for the project will come through a combination of community fundraising, local donations, local partnerships, corporate donations of goods and services, events, grants, and public funds.

Well-built river waves have very minimal ongoing costs.  The design will make the minimal seasonal maintenance very easy to perform.  If costs occur from major flood events, the Alberta River Surfing Assoc will cover these costs through a maintenance fund.

The lifespan, based on other parks is approx. 25 years.

If the project moves forward, the supporting facility would generate enough income to pay for the upgrades at the end of the lifespan as well as annual operating costs. Funds would be put away annually to pay for upgrades.

As per the recommendations in the feasibility study, the River Wave Park would be operated by a newly formed, local organization.

Indoor waves powered by pumps cost millions to build and when operating require the same amount of electricity as an entire neighbourhood.

Outdoor pool based waves cost tens of millions and also have high operating costs. Powered wave generation facilities have high user fees.

River wave park projects have minimal operating costs, improve the environment, operations do not contribute to climate change, can provide both free and pay-to-use wave recreation, and create a river trail.

Spectators and Sunbathers

The beautiful look and sound of the waves could provide a great background for people to enjoy the river. The river recreation would create lots of action for people to enjoy while relaxing on the sunny river banks and bridges.

Rafters & Floaters

The area would be safe for rafters and floaters and provide easy and safe entrance and exit from the river. The river upstream of the wave will be slow and deep making it easy for unskilled rafters and floaters to paddle to the bank. There could be ramps both upstream and downstream of the wave that allow easy river exit and entrance with small rafts. There would be signage notifying rafters and floaters of the wave and the river exits. Rafters and floaters would be able to avoid the wave by taking the south channel or getting out of the river and walking around. If rafters and floaters go over the wave, they would have a fun ride and may fall out of the raft and would then float downstream.

Swimmers

The area upstream of the wave would be slow-moving and deep and would provide a swimming area. Swimmers can go over the waves and would float through the waves and downstream without stopping.

SUPers & Paddlers

The flat and slow-moving water upstream of the wave and the access and exit ramps would provide an easy way for paddlers to leave and enter the river. Paddlers would be able to float over the wave and downstream.

Environmentalist and Nature Lovers

The eroding riverbanks would be stabilized and habitat improvements around the wave and would create a small and accessible natural area. The signage about the river ecosystem and positive river experiences would create good connections between people and the river and more people would care about protecting our rivers.

Students

The Cochrane River Wave Park could provide an engaging classroom for students to learn about how the river works, river ecosystems, river safety, and the physics of wave formation. The area could also allow for school surf competitions. The summer junior river safety & surf program would provide youth training on river safety, river usage, and provide improved river safety for all users.

Research

The river wave park could allow ongoing research into successful urban beach strategies and different ways to shape river waves.

Surfers, kayakers, and wave riders

The waves would provide excellent waves for all levels and types of waves users and become a major tourism destination.

Search & Rescue

Cochrane Fire Department would be able to conduct river rescue training under a variety of river conditions by using the adjustable wave structures. The river rescue training centre coulc offer rescue courses to other river rescue departments in the region and become an additional source of economic impact.

Example of river rescue training in Pemberton, BC

The vehicle is drained of all toxins, thoroughly cleaned, and chained to a concrete pad in the river bed to allow vehicle river rescue training.

The aim of the potential river wave is to reduce ice jam formation. If the project moves forward, an extensive study of ice jam formation in the area and the effect the river wave park would have on ice jam formation would be completed. The design of the wave would be created to minimize ice jam formation.

Yes, the technology has been used across the world and functions extremely well in rivers like the Bow with high flows and lots of material being moved downriver.

Based on data from other facilities, waves and beaches would return to normal operation shortly after the high water recedes.  Other facilities have gone through major floods and in different locations around the world.  There have been minimal problems.

The structures are designed so that if there is a failure then they fully collapse.  When the structures are collapsed they do not affect river levels.

If the proposed Glenmore east option was built, it would affect Cochrane and significantly change the river in town.  During major flood events, the reservoir would submerge the river wave park . The River Ave. potential project area is outlined in red below. The dark blue line is the reservoir’s normal operating level. The light blue area is the maximum reservoir capacity during large flood events.

The water level technology controls the water level upstream of the waver and controls which wave(s) get water. This technology also makes it easy for future inspection and maintenance. The water level controlling technology is intended to be Obermeyer Gates or the equivalent.  The gates consist of large plates anchored to a concrete foundation.  The plates are raised and lowered by large bladders or hydraulics or pneumatics. There will be a way to mechanically and manually raise the gates should there be any equipment problems.

Side profile diagram of Obermeyer Gate

Lowered Gate

Raised Gate

The wave creating technology shapes the flow of water going from the upstream high point to the downstream low point. There are a number of different methods for creating waves with new methods under development. Existing wave shaping technologies will be identified and analyzed during the preliminary engineering phases.

The wave shaping technology will take advantage of the year-long research project into river wave formation by Surf Anywhere and the University of Ottawa.

There would be one primary channel. The channel could form a single wave or multiple smaller waves in parallel. The waves would be up to 1.5m high from trough to peak.

Yes, the waves will be fully adjustable.  The waves can be changed to make different shapes of waves and to make the best waves at all flows.

Yes, the conceptual plan includes boulder groins creating teaching eddies upstream of the wave, downstream of the wave, and on the island in both the river wave channel and the natural channel.

The conceptual plan will include a beach that would be public and free to use. Some wave times would be pay to use and some wave times would be free to use. This combination of free and pay balances accessibility with project sustaining revenue.

The waves are adjustable allowing for ideal features for all river users that want to ride waves including surfers, SUPers, bodyboarders, kayakers, body surfers, and others.  The waves can be smooth green faces for big carves, whitewater holes, and other shapes.

The waves will be usable all year except for times of heavy ice coverage. pre-flood days and during floods.  Current wave usage in Alberta and other locations shows that the waves will be used whenever they are operating.

Yes, the Alberta River Surfing Association and Surf Anywhere built an excellent surf wave in the Kananaskis called The Mountain in 2014 and upgraded it in 2019.

Surf Anywhere helps surfers and other river users build waves across Alberta, across Canada, and around the world.  Surf Anywhere projects include the Mountain wave in the Kananaskis and the best-manufactured river surfing wave in North America in Bend, Oregon.

In 2020/2021, Surf Anywhere is conducting a year-long river wave research study with the University of Ottawa. Surf Anywhere also provides a wide range of other services to improve river wave experiences.

The conceptual plan has the river upstream developed to be slower and deeper, to allow for an easy and safe exit for rafters and would provide easier river access and easier river exits.  The river passage through this section would be much safer for rafters and other river users.

The wave would be designed to have a deep section immediately after the wave. The adjustability of the wave would allow some control over river depth after the wave. The river would be deep immediately after the wave due to the movement of the water around the wave.

As river users move downstream, the river would become more shallow and be very similar to current conditions. The depth of the river would be impacted by flows with higher flows making the river deeper and lower flows making the river shallower.

The waves would be adjustable and can be quickly and completely flattened at any time.  If nighttime usage is not desired, the waves could disappear every night and reappear every morning.

The design would include a number of spots for floaters to exit the river before the wave.  The river before the wave is deep and slow making it easy to exit.  Boats could safely float over the wave.  There would be signage indicating the different routes and exits.

The RCMP, rescue, and fireboats could bypass the waves via the channel which will be unchanged.  The waves could be completely flattened allowing the RCMP, rescue, and fireboats to go over the wave’s location.

Large sections of eroding riverbank would be stabilized including the creation of habitat. Habitat on the island would be improved as part of the project.

The waves and urban beach would bring a lot of people to the area and create positive and memorable experiences with the river.  The more people are aware of the river and have positive river experiences, the more they would care about protecting river health.

The area could be an excellent river ecosystem education location including signage for a large number of visitors and educational programming.

Yes, fish could easily be able to pass the waves.  The Bow River has existed here for over 100 years.

Yes, if the project moves forward, it would include a full environmental assessment. The environmental assessment would be used to help improve the area’s river (aquatic) and riparian (riverbank) habitat and avoid negative environmental impacts.

The feasibility study included a desktop environmental assessment based on the Alberta Government Landscape Analysis Tool (LAT) and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Aquatic Species at Risk Report (ASRR).

The desktop assessment identified the following areas that need further review: endangered and threatened plant ranges, key wildlife and biodiversity areas, other sensitive and endangered species, sensitive raptor range, sharp-tailed grouse survey, chinook grasslands, foothills parkland grasslands, grassland, and parkland natural region and bull trout. This project could be an opportunity to improve habitat and have a substantial positive environmental impact.

The urban beach would be usable by everyone.  Wave usage is a low impact and low-cost recreation.  This means the waves can be enjoyed by all ages from children to seniors.

The conceptual design of the riverbank area would include sloped access between levels to allow for wheeled access such as wheelchairs and strollers.

The waves could provide an excellent training ground for surf and other wave-riding athletes.  The waves would be free to use, very high quality, and are available for most of the year.  This combination means athletes of all ages could spend many hours improving their skills and entertaining the spectators and beachgoers.

Wave users could easily start in Cochrane and end up representing Canada at the Olympics and other international events.

If the River Ave location was selected, the dog park would remain but there would be better and safer river access.

Parking and access management would be thoroughly examined in future stages of the project.

There could be are a variety of access solutions based on the location.  This may include on-site parking, off-site parking with shuttle access, parking at the Spray Lakes Sawmill Family Sports Centre or a combination of options.

Noise and other impacts would be studied in detail during future stages of the project.

To manage noise, the Cochrane River Wave Park could be closed at night and at other sensitive times. The river waves are adjustable which means the river waves could be made to disappear at any time and the area usage will be minimal.

A variety of access options would be investigated to minimize the impact of usage on area residents.

The Town of Cochrane has published a Traffic Plan to improve traffic in Cochrane. An analysis of current and expected traffic patterns would be part of future stages in the project and the project design would incorporate the findings to minimize traffic impact.