Victoria’s Mount Hotham is to become the first ski resort in the world to recycle its own sewage to produce artificial snow. The process could save 110 million litres of water a year. A 27 million litre reservoir - the first stage of the $8.4 million project - was officially opened this morning.
Water from Swindler's Creek has been pumped into the reservoir and will be pumped on to the resort's snow-making facilities to replace the 110 megalitres of potable water currently used each snow season.
...By the start of the 2007 ski season, the creek water will be replaced with recycled sewage and wastewater from the resort. This water will be cleaned to Class A standard – fit for irrigating vegetable crops consumed raw – using state of the art ultra-filtration technology.
More info
This could have implications for a long running case in Arizona where a similar system is being vehemently opposed by a group including six Native American tribes.
More on that
Meanwhile, Hotham’s snow season has now officially started, but there’s not much snow around - just a dusting around the peaks - and no skiable snow yet. This, despite the big early snowfall in early May (
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=325466#325466 ) and the best efforts of the snowmaking team, who have made over 12,000m3 of snow. Natural snowfall is predicted for tomorrow, though. So fingers crossed.
http://www.hotham.com.au/news.php?id=33
http://www.ski.com.au/reports/hotham/