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Summary Of Selected Technical Reauirements For Artificial Whitewater Courses The following technical requirements are typically accepted technical requirements used in evaluation and design of Artificial Whitewater Courses: . Hydraulic Drop (Head): Minimum head for an international level site is 3.5 m (11.5 ft.). A head of just 1.5 m (5 ft.) is adequate for a site of "local merit." . Discharge: A reasonable flow for an international quality site is 10 m3/sec. (350 cfs). Flow at 2 m3/sec. (70 cfs) is adequate for a site of local merit. There is a relationship between discharge and the amount of fall available at a site. . Water velocity: An average velocity of 2m/sec (6.6 ft./sec) is recommended. . Water depth: 0.15m (6") is minimum depth needed to float a boat, but in order to take paddle strokes, 0.5m (20") depth is needed. To safely perform an Eskimo roll, 0.8 to 1.0 m (3 to 3.3 ft.) is required. . Minimum average width recommended is 5 m (16.5 ft.). This allows a 2-person canoe to safely turn sideways. The minimum passable width of 1.2 m (4 ft.) is possible provided that it is a local constriction only and not consistent for the entire course. Debris and safety issues may preclude a narrow width of 4ft. from being realistic. The general maximum width as recommended by the CWCB should use the streamflow as efficiently as possible. . Minimum length is 400m (1310 ft.) for international whitewater slalom races. A minimum course length of 240m (790 ft.) is recommended for most other courses. The minimum head of 3.5 m (11.5 ft.) is driven by the need to provide reasonable rapids throughout the length of a whitewater slalom event. A high quality play boat and rodeo competition site can be created with significantly less head provided that there is available discharge in the range as recommended as the RICD Flow Rate. At the time of this report, international whitewater rodeo criteria did not exist; hence specific guidance or requirements were not available. 7