U.S. National Whitewater Center

Charlotte

The U.S. National Whitewater Center is an outdoor recreation and athletic training facility for ice skating, whitewater rafting, kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, mountain biking, and hiking which opened to the public on November 4, 2006. The Center is located in Charlotte, North Carolina on approximately 1,300 acres of land adjacent to the Catawba River, with more than 45 miles of developed trail. The creators of the Center were inspired by the Penrith Whitewater Stadium built for the 2000 Olympics. The Center's primary feature is the world's largest and most complex recirculating artificial whitewater river. The facility cost $38 million to build, and costs $6.8 million per year to operate. The river channels were designed by three-time Olympian Scott Shipley. In June 2016, prompted by the death of a teenage park-goer from Ohio, the USNWC voluntarily closed the park's whitewater channels following the discovery of Naegleria fowleri, in the park's water. 1 micron particulate filters, an ozone system, and chlorination systems were installed before the whitewater reopened in 2017.