Sale Water Park is a man made lake built in the early 1970’s as a bi-product of the M60 motorway construction. Material was required to raise the motorway embankment by approximately 10m (30 feet) in order to be a safe height above the River Mersey floodplain. This material was excavated from the land adjacent to the motorway leaving a gravel pit over 100 feet deep. The pit was flooded producing a lake that is as deep as 27m (90 feet) in places. A sonar survey in May 2015 indicated depths of around 20m (65 feet) in the areas surveyed.

The water park is a 152 acre site of which a third is taken up by the lake. It is in an area of green belt running through the Mersey Valley and is owned by Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council. Trafford Water Sports Centre is sited at the park and was opened in 1988 and run by a private company until December 2013 after which time the maintenance contract ended. A variety of water sports including water skiing, jet skiing, sailing and kayaking are enjoyed by the local community and beyond and the site is popular with anglers.

In September 2014 Trafford Council confirmed that the future management of the Water Sports Centre was to be awarded to Peak Pursuits Limited at no cost to the local authority saving a considerable sum of money in subsidies. Peak Pursuits are very experienced in running such facilities as they operate 4 other sites around the country. Open Swim UK are delighted to be working in partnership with Peak Pursuits to develop the water park as a centre of open water swimming alongside and in harmony with other leisure activities. Our friendly family based approach is intended to promote not just swimming, but the water park with all it has to offer, to the local community.