FEDERAL HEIGHTS - Dreaming of a world of water made summer sense for Emily Kruse and her family Thursday morning.
"I was excited the whole way cause I was like, 'oh, I get to go to Water World,'" Kruse said.
But, when they pulled up to the empty parking lot, she knew something was wrong.
"I was like 'why is no one here,'" Kruse said. "It's like a hot day and the tickets were half off. So, I was kind of confused."
Despite the four-hour drive from Casper, Wyoming, Kruse and her family were met with a sign showing that Water World is closed for the day conjuring up images of the movie National Lampoon's Vacation and the Griswold's frustration at a closed "Wally World".
"We can't really come back because we live so far away. So, we'll just have to get a refund," Kruse said.
Refund appeared to be the word of the day in the office of Guest Services at Water World. Workers fielded calls from questioning consumers issuing many of them refunds for the tickets purchased for Thursday.
"In the 39 years that we've been in business, we have never closed the park due to a water issue," Joann Cortez, Water World spokesperson, said.
The issue is a failed valve that allowed untreated water from an irrigation pond into the water supply of Water World.
"It's not a pool water issue," Cortez said. "It was all about the potential contamination in the concession area."
Brian Hlavacek is the environmental health director for the Tri-County Health Department.
"It was a backflow prevention device that was installed incorrectly," Hlavacek said. "Then, a power outage really led to a backflow event."
He wants to make sure no one using concessions or the drinking fountains can get sick from contaminated water.
"Diarrhea, vomiting, fever, those types of things that could be associated with any bacteriological infection, we'd be concerned about," Hlavacek said.
Thursday, health department and Water World workers tested all water supplies to make sure the park can open on Friday.
"Anything associated with their retail food establishment, their snack bars are all completely disinfected," Hlavacek said.
The pools and water slides will have their water "super chlorinated" just in case and Tri-County Health Department officials will perform one final check of the water supply early Friday morning before Water World reopens for business.
"It can be serious," Hlavacek said. "We want to make sure we take all necessary steps to protect the public health."
In the meantime, Kruse and her family will look for something else to do that's worth the four-hour drive.
"We don't know what we're going to do now, but that's OK," Kruse said.
