After a decade of legal wrangling, Arizona Snowbowl became the first ski resort in the world to make artificial snow totally out of sewage effluent. On Christmas Eve, Arizona Snowbowl fired up its snow guns for the first time, and to everyone’s surprise, the snow that blasted onto the mountain was yellow.
Snowbowl’s management claims that the yellow coloration of the snow is due to rusty residue in the new snow-making equipment but locals aren’t buying it. Kaelan Monroe, 11, said he went skiing on New Year’s Day and that the conditions were “kind of disgusting.”
State environmental officials say they have sent an inspector to Snowbowl and expect to complete an investigation next week. To date, the discolored snow has not been tested.
Read more at the NYT
Yellowish traces (look closely) at Arizona Snowbowl, where snow made from wastewater was deployed for the first time over the holidays.