A Vernon water park is facing massive financial hardship after having to refund thousands of tickets due to permitting holdups for a majority of its waterslides, as the park's owner and the regulator refute one another on what led to the permitting delays.
Splashdown opened for the season on Wednesday, July 2. It was not the opening ownership had hoped or planned for. For one thing, they'd planned to open five days earlier on June 27 and missed out on Canada Day weekend revenue. For another, six of the park's 11 slides remain shut down because they failed inspection and operating permits were withheld by Technical Safety BC (TSBC), the regulator that oversees amusement parks in the province.
Splashdown is currently open on a highly curtailed basis. The kids' area and slides are up and running along with three adult-sized slides 鈥� new ones that were built a few years ago.
Given the reduction of the park, Splashdown had to refund tickets for its entire 2025 season and offer tickets at a reduced rate of $18, down from $38.
"This is a huge financial blow," owner Chris Steunenberg told The Morning Star, adding Splashdown's two main objectives right now are keeping as many of its 100 young employees as possible and "trying to serve the community the best we can."
The future appears uncertain for the water park.
"We've got financial obligations that go beyond payroll, and what can I say, we're not going to be able to meet our obligations and so we have to seek counsel and see where we go," Steunenberg said.
Now, one week after its planned opening, Splashdown is still waiting for the go-ahead from TSBC, and ownership has a different account from the regulator as to what has transpired leading up to the permit delays.
Also the owner of Cultus Lake Waterpark, Steunenberg and his family have been in the waterslide business for close to 30 years, and from his perspective, it was looking like a typical, relatively issue-free approval process leading up to this year's season at Splashdown.
"On July 26 last year we got a rave review by TSBC. Going into the fall there were no issues that we had to deal with," Steunenberg said.
That said, Splashdown knew there was an industry concern this year due to an incident at the Bridal Falls Waterpark near Chilliwack last summer that resulted in several injuries, including a life-altering injury to an 11-year-old girl. The incident resulted in the TSBC issuing to water park owners which included updating inspection procedures and training protocols so that slide defects can be detected before they present a hazard for riders, and identifying and documenting changing conditions of the slide over time so owners can make good decisions around lifecycle management of their water slides.
Steunenberg said Splashdown already has a company-wide policy that includes a higher level of inspection criteria than the TSBC's three recommendations set out.
Kate Parker, vice-president of operations for TSBC, told The Morning Star that the incident at Bridal Falls that seriously injured a child in July 2024 was on a tube slide that is essentially identical to the River Riot slide at Splashdown, being the same model, age and vintage.
"We made sure that they understood the requirements there and we shared the report (with the three recommendations), and those were really around how do you document and ensure that you've got the right plans for repair and maintenance on your slides so that we don't have another incident," Parker said.
She added TSBC did not introduce any new legal requirements for water park owners, only heightening the focus on existing code requirements.
This is a point of contention for Steunenberg, who described an onerous inspection process that had Splashdown's engineer working through Canada Day weekend going "way beyond the safety code" in an effort to get the six failed slides into compliance.
But Parker insists that TSBC has not changed any of its requirements from previous years to this year, and while the regulator has taken a closer look at the River Riot slide, the other five slides are not related "in any way" to the Bridal Falls incident and the process for approving them has remained the same.
"Those requirements are the same, have always been the same, and they're the same requirements that this owner completes with their Cultus Lake Park, which is fully open this year," Parker said. "And we have not seen delays at other parks."
With a focus on the River Riot slide, and Parker said when TSBC safety inspectors visited Splashdown on June 18, they observed "very concerning" anomalies on the surface of that slide similar to what was seen at the Bridal Falls incident.
"These are anomalies like bubbling or separation that were actually part of our findings as to what led to that incident," Parker said. "It's critical that those are resolved before that slide comes back into service."
The permitting issue has devolved into a he-said-she-said.
Splashdown and the TSBC disagree on the level of communication that took place. Steunenberg says the park filed all of its material on June 19, the day after TSBC's inspection, and heard nothing from the regulator for seven days despite daily calls and messages. Parker countered that near daily communication was maintained from TSBC's side throughout that period.
Splashdown says the slides have since been brought up to code, but again the TSBC disagrees.
"We understand that the park says that they've completed the structural repairs to the slides, but we haven't received any supporting documents," Parker said.
Parker did say that on Thursday night the TSBC was informed by the park that it has brought in additional engineering support.
"We're very supportive of this, the engineer that they brought in is very seasoned and we expect that that will expedite the resolution of these outstanding non-compliances," she said.
Parker added the full opening of the park is contingent on the park completing the outstanding inspection materials, but said once that happens, the TSBC could approve the opening of those slides in less than a day.
Steunenberg remains frustrated, calling the permitting issue a "completely unjust withholding" that wasn't properly communicated.
He said for now, the curtailed park is still a highly suitable destination for young families or birthday parties for younger kids.
Splashdown continues to provide updates on its , where it says it's always prioritized safety.
"Our track record is evident of this, and we offer an incredibly well maintained and code compliant facility to our guests."