You want hand compaction tools, ie. wacker, jumping jack, etc for the first two feet after you've shaded the pipe. Typically you'd bury the pipe to 1' above top of pipe with aggregate material which will achieve compaction with little to no effort.
Backfill after that point with native...
You should be able to get 95% with little to no effort. If it's going to be under a paved section, I'd make it 100% compaction, which again should be pretty easy to get with conventional equipment, ie roller with a water truck to get to optimum moisture content.
A good contractor will place a tap or blowoff at the high end where air would normally be trapped. When the line was filled, they would be able to release the air at this point; thus avoiding any air issues.
Honestly, a good contractor wouldn't have a problem with their line.
I work for a construction company in Phoenix that does about 1 billion per year. We use AgTek, HCSS, Primavera P6 for scheduling, Primavera Expedition for construction management and JD Edwards for accounting. I have also heard great things about Timberline, but have never personally used it...
my thought is that slurry backfill will provide some type of structural strength in the backfill. "Slurry" is a general term. The mix design will really determine what the intended use is... but typically you will slurry backfill a 60" pipe when it is under a slab or pavement section and then...
This might sounds stupid, but why not just build the lazy river to the same specs as the main pool (rebar, shotcrete, etc). As for the jets, the concept of the lazy river is to basically float along at a really slow pace, so my thought would be to have three jets at every 90-degree angle and...