Talking Waters Gardens

Salutations one and all. So glad to be with you and to share another fun adventure. Today I'll tell you about a fun city park that also serves an important function for the environment. My human and I visited Talking Waters Gardens in Albany, Oregon.

Every city collects water after use (washing our clothes, dishes, and even showering), treats it to make it safe, then puts it back into the environment. The city of Albany does this and discharges the cleaned water into the Willamette River. The problem is, the water is too hot after treatment to go back into the river without effecting that environment. What to do? What to do? 

They could hold the water in large holding tanks till it cools. Boring!

Or they could build a series of rectangular ponds to push the water through to cool it. Functional but still boring.

They did something far more clever and a lot more fun. They built an artificial wetland and turned that into a park!

 

They built three sets of treatment wetlands, each containing three ponds that operate together. Each pond is from one to five feet deep and contains a variety of vegetation that provides shade and contributes to evapotranspiration, which helps lower the water temperature. 

Each pond is connected to the next pond by waterfalls and weirs which oxygenates, cools, and naturally purifies the water. Gravity is used to get the water through the ponds, and then, once properly cooled, into the river.

The city also put pathways through this wetland.

 

They weave in and out and around the ponds, with bridges over the waterfalls. This way, not only can migrating birds (along with lots more wildlife) enjoy the wetlands, so can we! You can walk a short path or go for a fairly long hike. It is up to you. Dogs (or in our case cats) are welcomed as long as they are leashed. It is a great way to get some exercise while getting close to nature.

We visited a few weeks ago, so the park was still mostly brown, but it was very nice nonetheless. We got to see a number of ducks, but of course they stayed out on the water. Lucky for them I don't swim. Lucky for them.

Due to the fact that it was a little cool and was sprinkling off and on through out the day, not many people were there. We did come across a few dogs, but they were fairly well behaved, so we had no incidents.

 

Is that a dog? I'll just hand out in this tree till it's gone.

We walked around one of the ponds, enjoying the view of the plants, water, and waterfalls. The sounds of the waterfalls is so relaxing. That is how the park got its name as well. The water "talks" as it falls over the rocks. Pretty clever. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.

A waterfall.

That same waterfall from the other side of the pond.

That waterfall and the bridge over it.

My human and I enjoyed the park. If you are ever in the area and need to stretch your legs a bit, definitely visit Talking Waters Gardens. 

Till next time, may peace and plenty be the first to lift the latch to your door, and happiness be your guest today and evermore. And as always, keep wandering my friends. Keep wandering.