Snow Making Comes Under a Cloud : Ski resorts’ heavy use of water is challenged by environmentalists, who fear threat to New England fish.

Each year, thousands of New England residents flock to the ski slopes to reconnect with nature amid the pristine splendor of snow-capped mountains and frozen streams.

But the image of skiing as a wholesome, natural pastime has come under question as a result of a stormy debate over ski areas’ snow-making practices.

The controversy concerns how much water ski areas should be allowed to take from rivers and streams to make snow. Environmentalists, and in some cases state and federal officials, say withdrawal levels sought by the industry would lower winter stream flows to a point where aquatic life would be threatened.

Snow-making systems require 150,000 gallons of water to cover an acre with a foot of man-made snow. Environmentalists say their concern is not with the amount of water being withdrawn overall but the fact that it is taken in winter months when fish are naturally stressed by low river flows and cold temperatures.

“We have never argued that they (ski operators) can’t take water,” said Kenneth D. Kimball, director of research for the Appalachian Mountain Club. “The debate is when you get into low periods of water availability, how much lower can you keep going?”

But Timothy Mueller, president of the Okemo Mountain Ski Resort here, whose area has been embroiled in a regulatory battle over water withdrawal, said environmentalists had failed to prove any harm from current or proposed water withdrawals by ski areas.

“Can we say there’s absolutely no impact to a water withdrawal? Probably not. But you cannot say there’s any impact to the fish,” said Mueller.

The snow-making debate is the result of a trend that has seen ski areas in the Northeast become more dependent on man-made snow. Introduced in the late 1940s, man-made snow had come to replace natural snow on many New England slopes by the late 1970s, as areas responded to growing interest in skiing and declining snowfall.

From 1980-85, snow levels increased, but since 1985 natural snow has been scarce, accelerating the trend. Snowfall in Vermont averaged more than 200 inches a year from 1980-85, according to the Vermont Ski Areas Assn. But it has not reached 200 inches since, dipping to a low of 123 in the winter of 1990-91.

Today, about 70% of the snow on Vermont slopes is man-made, according to Joseph Parkinson, director of the Vermont Ski Areas Assn. He said most areas that invested heavily in snow-making equipment in the last decade have survived, while many of those not investing have failed.

Snow making involves pumping water from a river or stream through underground pipes to hydrants up the mountain. When mixed with compressed air pumped through separate pipes, the water splits into tiny particles, which freeze into crystals as they are shot from a gun attached to the hydrant.

To keep pace with their snow-making needs, Northeast ski areas are increasingly seeking permission to expand their water withdrawals.

Northeast states, unlike those in the West, do not have a history of competition for water among large users, and thus no set standards for withdrawal, according to Chuck Clark, secretary of Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources and formerly chief of Washington’s Department of Ecology.

So far, the state of Vermont has been moving toward adoption of a standard set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that bars ski areas in most cases from withdrawing water at a rate that reduces flow in the river below its natural median level in February, the winter month at which flow is lowest.

The federal policy, applied on federal lands, allows ski areas to withdraw to levels below the February median if they can prove the withdrawals would not harm aquatic life.

So far three ski areas have been involved in regulatory battles over withdrawal requests.

The Vermont Environmental Board last year refused a request by Okemo to withdraw water from the Black River at a rate that would reduce flow below the February median. The board authorized withdrawals up to the median, saying further reductions would endanger the river’s brown trout population.

The Loon Mt. Ski Area in New Hampshire, seeking a federal permit to withdraw water from the Pemigewasset River, agreed to meet the February standard and dropped an earlier request for a larger withdrawal.

Sugarbush in Vermont won state regulators’ approval to withdraw from the Mad River at a level below the February median, a case that environmentalists are appealing.

At stake, say ski operators, is the future of their industry--an industry that generated $280 million in spending last year in Vermont alone. Most areas face the need for more water in future years, according to Parkinson. Should regulators hold to the strict February median standard, he said, “it will put virtually every area out of business.”

But William J. Niedermyer, a Fish and Wildlife Service coordinator in New England, said ski areas were simply being asked to restrain their water use. “The American way is always more, bigger and better. But there’s got to be a compromise to protect other resources.”