A $155,000 water park in the city's Rotary Peace Park will make the waterfront safer for children.

That's the opinion of Parks and Recreation Department manager Linda Rapp.

While the city had been considering a water park for quite some time, she said in an interview, recent tragedies along the waterfront made the park a higher priority.

'We've been looking at the idea of a water park for a number of years.

'The reason we got it on the books was due to the summer two years ago. It was hot and people started to play in the river and there were some fatalities,' Rapp said.

Among them was a young woman who drowned after being sucked into a whirlpool near the kayaking area alongside Nisutlin Drive.

Rapp said the new water park, expected to cost $155,000 according to city budget figures, will go next to the playground in Rotary Peace Park. Three years ago, the playground was relocated further south from what is now the park's volleyball court.

'It's a pretty good size, it's close to the same size as the existing playground,' Rapp said of the water park.

'We don't know for sure what it will look like yet, the detailed design is part of the design process,' she said.

She said the money would be coming from a combination of city funds, grant funding and a donation from the Whitehorse Lion's Club.

Club president Dave Ordish said he and his fellow club members had also been thinking about a water park for some time.

'We thought it would be an excellent project so we went and talked to the city and learned they had been planning a park for years,' he said.

He said his club will be giving the city about $20,000 in cash for the project with another $20,000 worth of labour.

'We have some pretty talented people in our group,' he said.

Ordish said he would like to see the park get started by May 2006.