Dozens of cities throughout the country have reinvented and, in some instances, re-engineered their rivers to take advantage of the increasing popularity of whitewater kayaking and, in more placid waters, rafting and tubing.

Waterloo and Cedar Falls may soon follow suit.

A Cedar Falls City Council committee Monday night supported spending up to $6,000 to study a possible whitewater kayaking course near Gateway Park.

The study would be done in conjunction with one for a slalom course in Waterloo.

Currently, the Cedar River below the dam in downtown Cedar Falls is among the more popular kayaking spots in Iowa.

Supporters of the whitewater kayaking want obstacles and pools added. One proposal several years ago had a 300-meter-long chute made with fieldstone and boulders to create Class III rapids for kayaking and canoeing, slalom kayaking and trick rodeo boating. It would run from the Ice House Museum, past the rocks and pockets or holes to an area near the Broom Factory Restaurant.

"The Waterloo course," said Peter Komendowski, who is involved in local kayaking and trails groups, "would be more of a slalom course where people would put in and go back and forth through a set area."

During discussions on River Renaissance improvements in Waterloo, it was envisioned that the dam below Park Avenue -- which would have a rubber bladder installed to raise the river upstream by four feet -- would be designed so a kayak course could installed below it.

Both projects could be presented jointly by the Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments in a bid for federal funding for a Black Hawk County "water trail" for paddlers. The federal share could be 80 percent of the costs.

The project is worthy of consideration. Whitewater kayaking -- along with rafting, tubing and canoeing -- has migrated from mountain river valleys to cities eager to enhance the recreational uses of their rivers. At least 40 cities now have kayak courses.

South Bend, Ind., revitalized its debris strewn St. Joseph's River in 1984 with a kayaking course. Its parks district now operates an artificial $7 million kayak course built in 1998 that draws 14,000 participants annually and has hosted the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Last year, the $1.5 million Truckee River Whitewater Kayak Park in Reno, Nev. was approved in a bond election. Now 15 hotel-casinos are adding kayaking to packages to lure tourists.

Kayaking has found a home along the Trinity River in Texas, where Fort Worth created a course complete with additional obstructions and Dallas will follow suit. Austin also is planning a course

Charlotte, N.C. is remaking the Catawba River with adjustable rapids, envisioning a $36.7 million annual economic benefit.

Other cities -- large and small, including Wausau, Wis. and Pittsford, N.Y. -- have gone the whitewater route to add another dimension to the value of their rivers.

The Los Angeles Times reported last year that kayaking had grown by 125 percent to 9.9 million participants in five years.

The possible kayaking courses in Cedar Falls and Waterloo would be a nice complement to the ever-evolving boating scene along the Cedar River, including the raising of the water level upstream from downtown Waterloo.

The popular manmade 150-acre Brinker (East) Lake below George Wyth State Park will eventually double in size once adjacent mining operations run their course.

The continuing efforts to enhance the Cedar River would make it a great complement to the expanding recreational trails system, although -- as we stated earlier this week -- it would behoove the state to improve the substandard water quality.

This may not be Colorado or California, but we should make the maximum value of the natural resources that we do have if the costs involved aren't prohibitive.