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News about more than $20M incentives offered by our local government to attract a Great Wolf Lodge resort featuring an indoor water park comes at an interesting time.  Forsyth County residents are under severe water restrictions and Lake Lanier faces record-breaking low levels.  US Army Corps of Engineers has announced they will not slow the release of water, and Gov. Purdue says a lawsuit will be filed within a week.  Stone Mountain Park recently canceled their planned Snow Mountain attraction due to the water involved in manufacturing the snow.

With all the current controversy about water supply and consumption, and no end to the drought in sight, how does an indoor water park figure into the future of Cumming? 

Jennifer Beranek, spokeswoman for Great Wolf Resorts, explained that their indoor water parks use state-of-the-art technology to minimize water usage.  Their system uses special filters to allow recirculation of much of the water used.  Outdoor water parks cannot help wasting a lot of water to evaporation, but an indoor water park has the ability to regulate humidity levels and reduce evaporation.  She could not comment on specific statistics of water usage, as the corporation considers that to be proprietary information which must be protected from its competitors, but did say that their indoor water park water usage compares favorably with the water usage of an apartment complex of similar size.

Ms. Beranek could also not comment on how the Army Corps of Engineers decision or Gov. Purdue's lawsuit might affect their plans.  "Great Wolf has not officially announced Cumming as a future location," she emphasized, and stated that currently over a dozen potential sites are being considered for future development. 

She acknowledged that Cumming's proposed Mary Alice Park location would be unique for Great Wolf in that it could be their 2nd lakeside resort. "Our Great Wolf Lodge resort in Grapevine, Texas (right outside of Dallas) that is opening this December, is also near a lake, Lake Grapevine." Beranek Said.

Certainly the prospect of Lake Lanier facing a 32-foot deficit must concern to Great Wolf Resort as they consider coming to our community, just as it worries so many of our local businesses which depend on recreation and tourism.  With our local economy hanging in the balance, one hopes that those Florida mussels are making good use of the water releases guaranteed to them under the Endangered Species Act.  The people and businesses of Georgia are demanding that the gatekeepers of our water supply give reasonable consideration to our needs and balance them against those of the mussels.