Wild Water Adventure Park takes steps to conserve in drought

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- The drought in California has affected many businesses and farmers, and that includes local water parks.

Tuesday was another fun day on the slides, rides and in the wave pool at Wild Water Adventure Park in Clovis -- with more than a million gallons of water flowing throughout the park.

"Water is the lifeblood of our business in many ways, not just the pools, but serving the public and irrigation," said Bob Martin, general manager of Wild Water Adventure Park.

Martin is happy to see water streaming in and filling up the ponds, especially since they weren't sure if they'd receive any water from the Fresno Irrigation District this year.

"We had to come up with contingency plans, and fortunately for us, we're on a pretty good well system here but we anticipated that our wells would dry up if we didn't get water from the Fresno Irrigation District this year," said Martin.

Like farmers, the park received six weeks of allocated water. With the drought underway, though, the park has taken steps to save.

"We've tried to conserve as much as we can. We put in low-flow toilets, we're only watering essential areas in the center of the park, we're letting the fringe of the park kind of go dry," said Martin.

Another impact of the drought, Martin says he's seen more wildlife visiting the recently filled ponds and grounds.

"We've never had to deal with anything like this and we're going to make it fine through this summer, but we're kind of more scared about what next year is going to look like," he said.

Despite the drought, officials at Wild Water Adventure Park say with this summer's heat, they're expecting one of their busiest seasons yet.