This week the NLand Surf Park in Austin, which uses Wave Garden technology, has announced that the Travis Country Commissioners have authorised county attorneys to sue NLand Surf Park. This is because NLand is not using traditional swimming pool filters for the treatment of its water. Traditional swimming pool regulations require that the water be filtered through a chlorine system on a minimum number of cycles. It is widely known in the water treatment industry that this type of treatment becomes unviable on a large scale. In Texas, the precedence of cable wake parks shows that this level of treatment is not required when the usage intensity is much lower that that of traditional swimming pools. It is unlikely for NLand to ever have more than 60-70 people in the water at one time, despite being nearly 50x the size of an Olympic swimming pool. This means that the human impact, and therefore human risk, is a tiny fraction of what it is in a traditional swimming pool, meaning that the treatment requirements should necessarily be different. Travis County’s decision to sue NLand despite having never sued or ceased operation of numerous cable wake parks seems to be lacking any real technical basis or precedence and is highly questionable. Further, this not only blocks the local population from using an incredible and revolutionary leisure resource (which promotes sport and population health), but it also reduces jobs in the city, and tax revenues to the city. This is a clear example of public policy not functioning in the interests of its population, and we hope NLand are able to get it reversed soon. For our own parks, we have partnered with Crystal Lagoons, who developed a game changing and more efficient treatment system for large bodies of water and who have on more than one occasion set the record for the largest outdoor artificial lagoon. Aside from guaranteeing water quality with minimal chemical treatment, they also bring incredible aesthetics, replicating the caribbean colours and beach environment. Despite not using a traditional filter system, as required for traditional pools, Crystal Lagoons has successfully opened large artificial lagoons in the USA and around the world and we’re confident they will pass the most stringent (but sensible) requirements anywhere in the world.