Introduction
For the past two decades, water parks have gained increased popularity, following increased demand for skyrocketing and entertainment. Not all people have the time and the opportunity to visit coastal line beaches. As such, the development of water parks has provided an important solution to people who want to have recreation and fun but lack the time to travel to the ocean or water falls. To continue providing the best services to citizens in its locality, the City of Gevgelija has developed a plan to build a water park to be located at Gevgelija, Macedonia. Gevgelija has been selected as the preferred location because of its good accessibility and proximity. The city of Gevgelija accommodates different types of technical and skilled workers and this has really helped the city to grow2. The development of a water park will be an important achievement to the city’s management. More specifically, the developed park will benefit all people irrespective of their gender, age, and social class.
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Having gained its independence in early 1980s, Macedonia is considered a relatively young country 2. Before it gained sovereignty, the country was a part of the larger Republic of Yugoslavia. To be a member of the European Union, a country must meet certain standards in infrastructure, civic education, and good governance. Though Macedonia is not a member yet, it has been granted the “Accession Status,” a sign that the country is headed in the right direction. For the past decade, the country has been struggling with the funding and maintenance of projects 2. The reduced availability of financing resources has led to increased demand for new innovations to maintain the infrastructure at relatively lower and affordable costs. If the management can maintain the park at relatively lower costs, it will have more money to spend on building other infrastructures or maintain the already existing infrastructures. To promote continued maintenance and sustainability, the management may also want to implement infrastructure with very minimal maintenance cost.
In terms of the surrounding environmental conditions, the City of Gevgelija has a good climate that ranges between 30 and 45 degrees Celsius, during the summer season 3. The climate is closely related to the that of the Mediterranean, comprised of hot summers and cool winds. During winter, temperature readings are measured between -10 and 10 degrees Celsius. The good climate and surrounding environment is good news to those who would like to pay a visit to the region and have some good time 3. With the development of the water park, visitors will get a rare opportunity to enjoy the coolness of the splashing water when they visit the park during the summer. Most industries in the City of Gevgelija prefer to produce light materials and foods such as canned fruits, vegetables, textiles, wines, and plastics. There is also a dedicated team of workers in the region who provide surrounding companies with the needed labor force3. To timely complete the construction of the water park, the developer will source some labor from the surrounding communities.
The project will be positioned at the heart of the city, adjacent to the main automotive motorway, the enclosed hotel terrace, and the pedestrian-only boulevard. A layout of the water park has been included in the appendix section as Appendix 1.
The Kool Kids Water Park’s technical design, including the structural and hydraulic system will guide the develop during construction. The contractor will work with internal and external engineers to ensure that the project is fully implemented. To reduce the project’s impact on the environment, several measures will be taken. The management of the city is fully committed to protecting the environment. The successful completion of the project will allow the people to celebrating their cultural background as residents of Gevgelija.
Environmental Considerations
Noise Pollution
Noise pollution is an important element of consideration when it comes to the development and launching of the project. Since noise is an environmental pollutant, the construction company will want to reduce the noise to the lowest levels possible. Depending on the nature of the project, noise will mainly emanate from three major sources. First is the machines used to dig the ground and drill the rocks 1. The machines will include bull dozers and excavators. The noise form these machines will be minimized by surrounding the construction site with strong and noise proof perimeter walls. The second source of noise pollution will be the heavy concrete works. Heavy machines will be used to break and mix the concrete materials. Noise from these machine swill be reduced with the use of quieter equipment.
Through technology, there has been the development of machines that make very little noise when grinding and mixing the concrete. If the construction company, cannot afford to purchase new and improved construction equipment, it may want to retrofit the existing equipment with damping materials and mufflers 1. To make sure that the activities of the hotel near the site is not affected a walking path will be created to be used by the visitors. As a way of minimizing noise disturbances, workers will be asked to avail themselves at a specified time of the day, with the rest being reserved for the evening when most people working near the site have left. Another good way of minimizing the disturbances will be to shut down loud machines when they are not in use. An important part of workplace safety on the site will be to protect workers from loud noises that may damage their ears. As such, the construction company will provide them with protective equipment such as ear muffs. Once the site has been completed, noise may emanate from managers and employees working at the offices various allotments once the facility is fully operational. To control the noise, the management of the park will draft the rules and regulations to be followed by al visitors.
Air Pollution
Air pollution will be a major challenge facing the water park construction project. Air pollution will result from two major sources. The firsts source is from the soil and sand particles deposited into the air during activities such as groundbreaking, concrete mixing, and during the movement of machines and the lorries 6. This form of air pollution will be addressed by carefully moving the groundbreaking and concrete mixing machines to ensure that they do not create a lot of dust particles. The other source is carbon emissions from the machines used in the construction process. the fact that heavy machines will be used means that they will be heavy carbon emissions 6. This problem can be addressed by bringing fuel-efficient machines that have very little carbon emissions.
Park Maintenance
After the park, has been fully constructed and opened to members of the public, the next step will be to effectively manage and maintain the park. Maintaining the park begins with making sure that the visitors do not litter in the park’s compound. To manage pollution resulting from litters, the management will introduce litter bins in all major locations and put signs directing visitors where they can deposit litter materials 4. An important part of the management’s effort to protect the environment will be to reduce the park’s environmental impact. The management will meet the effort by selecting the materials to be used within the park on their basis of lifetime, sustainability and safety.
Many buildings and infrastructures in the park will be composed of concrete structures made from a combination of water and aggregate. The splash pad will be a key symbol of the water park and will be finished with concrete, covered with a brushed finish to make it less slippery by increasing the coefficient of friction. Because of the limited space, the splash pad will not be built with the capacity to carry as much water as a pool. However, the splashed water will be recollected and recycled through a recirculation system4. Using a recirculation system will greatly help in reducing costs attributed to water purchase and disposal. Recycling the water will also help in preserving the natural environment, through preservation. To reduce the loss of water, a buffer zone will be built around the splash pad. For quick draining of the water, the drains will be put at the center. To ensure minimal loss of the water, the pad will be built in a sloped position, towards the drain. Although many development have been made to prevent water loss, some water will still be lost. A good method of maintaining constant water levels in the recirculation system will be to connect the water pad to a nearby water circulation system 5. Even with the availability of water, the management will use all efforts possible in ensuring that the water is well saved.
Before the water is allowed to the park’s circulation system, it will need to be treated. When in the recirculation system, the water will undergo both the primary and secondary treatment processes. After the water, has left the splash pad, it will flow down the drains and out to the tap, where large debris pieces will be filtered out. The water will then be allowed to flow through to the containment reservoir, where sand and all small debris will be filtered out. After sand, has been filtered, the water will be heated and later treated with UV light. UV light will be selected as the main method of purification because of its great ability to kill pathogens that are resistant to chlorine 5. The water will then undergo a chlorine treatment in the chlorine reservoir. The chlorine treatment is the secondary treatment and will mark the end of the water treatment process. the treated water will then be directed to the splash pad through the water circulation system, where it will be preserved waiting to be used.
Materials
One of the main materials that will be used in this project is the PVC plastic pipes. The pipes will be used in the dry park and have been preferred because of their soft texture and cushiony characteristics. To improve the cost effectiveness of the project, the PVC pipes will also be made using recycled materials. The materials used will be perforated on the surface to prevent them from retaining water 8. the perforations will also allow the free flow of air and help in preventing the growth of mold. To ensure that the outside is resistant to cracking, the surface will be hardened further. The management expects that the plastic cushioning will last for at least 20 years before replacement.
Another important development on the site will be the building of the planters. To make the planters, the construction company will mix concrete combine with an elevated curb the perimeter wall. The main work of the curb will be to hold the original trees earlier held by the grove used in the construction of the Northern area of the splash pad. The planters will be watered using a drip-line drawn from the Appollonia Hotel’s on-site water system.
Electrical System
Given the huge size of the park, the developer will need to come up with a sophisticated electrical system. The electric system will provide the needed power in running the water treatment machine, running operation machines and computers, and lighting the entire facility. The main components of the control unit will include; temperature sensors, pump, chlorine feeder, heaters, and the controls unit. The control unit is the place where all the various electrical functionalities will be operated from. The temperature sensor will operate by sending an analogue signal to the control unit, which will later be converted to a digital input, to be decoded by the processor in the Analogue Digital Converter (ADC). Because the control unit only has a maximum power output of 500mA and 5 VDC, it cannot be solely used as a power supplier 7. As such, a magnetic switch (relay) will be between the devices and the external sources of power. When referring to devices, the focus is on items such as the UV Disinfection Sterilizer, water pump, feeders, and the heaters. 5VDC will be used to power the relay but an important point to note is that it cannot contact AC/DC power to the level of 28VCD/22OVAC given that each contact has 10Am.
Solar panels will be the main source of power and will be fed to the main system using a charger. The solar panels have specifically been selected for this project because they are readily available and they are also cheap. The cost of running and maintaining solar panels is also significantly lower compared with the cost of electricity from a power generation company. The charging system has been implemented to ensure that the system and the battery are continually charged to continue powering the system even when the sun goes down. An important part of the electrical system is the inverter 7. Its main work is to convert the DC current to AC so that it can be used in the system. To promote efficiency, solar panels will be backed up by generators to be used during rainy days or in cases of power failure.
Conclusion
Building a water park is a complicated process that requires a developer to weigh various options before deciding on the location, materials, and environmental impacts of the whole project. Given that the project has been implemented in a city with many residents, an important consideration that has been made by the developer is the environmental impacts of the project. The developer has used various materials such as sand and cement and this has, contributed to environmental pollution. Also, the developer has used heavy machines and this means that there have been incidences of noise pollution. Various measures have been put in place to minimize the project impacts to the environment and to peoples’ health. The completion of the project has signaled the implementation of good management in that has ensured that people have good access to the park. PVC pipes and concrete mixtures are the main materials used in the construction project. An elaborate power system has been implemented to power all the devices implemented in the project including heaters, chlorine feeders, pumps, and temperature sensors. The recently developed technological development will help engineers in learning new ways of building bigger and better water parks.
