Only dried mud covers the bottom of the pond at the entrance to the Talking Water Gardens on Monday, July 28, 2025.
Albany’s Talking Water Gardens is out of water, but construction is under way on a temporary and partial fix for the rest of the summer.
On June 18, the city of Albany opened bids on a project to pump water into the artificial wetlands from Cox Creek at a rate of up to three cubic feet per second.
Four companies responded, and the city awarded the contract to Wind Rose Excavation, of Junction City, the low bidder at $97,890.
The contract calls for installation of a pump with a fish screen in Cox Creek, 225 feet of underground pipe, and a connection to the plumbing that serves the Water Gardens. The construction is mainly in the parking lot at the entrances to both Talking Waters and Simpson Park.
The pumping was to begin on Aug. 1 and continue through Oct. 31. Now it’s supposed to begin in mid-August.
“The contractor had to order some different fittings and is now waiting for them to arrive,” Public Works Director Chris Bailey told me Monday.
I wondered whether the flow in Cox Creek is sufficient to support the pumping. Bailey said it is.
The city has water rights to send up to 20 cubic feet per second (cfs) down Cox Creek from the Albany-Santiam Canal but typically sends only 5 to 7 cfs.
“There are also other sources of natural runoff for Cox Creek,” Bailey said via email. “Ultimately, the controlling factor for where this diversion will be is the weir that controls the flow out of Waverly Lake into lower Cox Creek. The most recent measurement of flow over the weir was approximately 14 cfs. The use of this 3 cfs should not have a noticeable impact on the flow in the creek.”
To settle a complaint from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the city stopped running treated effluent from the Albany-Millersburg treatment plant through Talking Waters in December 2024. Now the discharge goes straight into the Willamette River.
The DEQ had ordered Albany to stop underground leaks from the constructed wetlands, which is impossible without astronomical expense.
Talking Waters was completed in 2012, at a cost of $13-14 million, to cool and further clarify treated wastewater from Albany, Millersburg and the metals plant of ATI-Wah Chang.
Pumping water from Cox Creek is an attempt to keep some of the wetlands plantings from withering away completely, in case some settlement is reached so the ponds can once again be used for the purpose for which they were built.
Albany sued the engineers who designed the wetlands and the company that built it over the leaks in 2017. The suit remains pending in Linn County Circuit Court. Stay tuned for a report on what I think is an astonishing twist. (hh)
the liberals running the city of albany built talking waters without thought it would have leaks? the left has regulations on top of regulations to prevent things like this. before they are built. the city of albany discussed this with, or got approval from the DEQ before it was built, and its a big surprise it leaks? im a getting this story correct? all the proper studies were done before talking waters was approved and built, and the tree huggers of the left overlooked the possibility it could or would leak? and the whole damn thing would get shut down?? im i getting this story correct??
That so many Alanians are convinced that the Albany City government is infested with “Liberals” is humorous at best. There is nothing about what goes on in Alany that could possibly be deemed “liberal.” Starting at the top, our state representative Boshart-Davis is as conservative as it gets. The Linn County commissioners are reminiscent of the John Birchers, regularly voting against their own best wishes to feed the Conservative Monster inside. And then, we get to the Albany City Council. Everyone in this forum seems to think CARA is some squishy liberal plot by radical hippies to ruin the City by making the rubes pay. In truth, city-financed renewal plots such as CARA grew out of a conservative tradition and are common nationwide. This is the same nation that voted Trump (not a liberal) into office twice. The commenters who regularly blame everything on Liberals miss the mark again.
“That so many are convinced that the Albany City government is infested with “Liberals” is humorous at best.”
Who decided June would be “pride month” for perpetuity? It sure wasn’t Republicans.
Thank you, well said.
You sound ridiculous. Hnnnnnggg liberal this liberal that. Get over yourself.
just when i think iv’e heard it all, i can read hasso hering, and see what ignorance and stupidity the democrats running the city of albany approve of. …never fails for entertainment. its safe to say albany will increase taxes to fix talking waters, who is fool enough not to expect that next??
Wasn’t that designed by CH2M Hill? You would almost think they could have made something that worked with all that expertise and money.
The fact that the effluent flows directly into the river rather than Talking Gardens proves that Oregon is a liberal state with no brains in the DEQ.
More nonsense. Create a wetland which has no influence on the temp of river so now spend more money to keep plants alive. This is like paying to hunt barn owls to keep spotted owls alive who never were threatened by logging. City management sucks.
Barred owls- the management plan (aka extirpation) is now defunded. https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/07/22/plans-to-shoot-thousands-of-barred-owls-in-doubt-after-feds-cancel-grants/
Good Lord. Read the article. CH2MHill screwed up and Albany is suing them for the leaks. TWG was built to keep Albany and WaChang effluent (effluent is treated wastewater) from heating the river. Warm water equals dead salmon.
None of that is liberal or conservative. Some of you all have liberals living rent free in your heads.
if it was ok for it to leak into the ground, we coulda saved a lotta money by sending the water down the middle of 6th street.
The EPA makes no sense it okay to send the water straight to the river but you can’t have it leak in.
Good grief, this has nothing to do with partisan politics. Council members who made the decision back then were from both parties. There was a problem needing to be solved for the City and Wah Chang to cool their wastewater effluent and this was the most environmentally friendly solution, instead of building diesel burning cooling towers. Talking Water Gardens was not just a public works project, but a beautiful park for us to enjoy instead of only having sidewalks to walk around citywide to see all of the brick and mortar. Any blame here is DEQ and the contractor, not the City, If it leaks into the ground so be it. It is better than straight to the river. If the river is acceptable then the ground at least filters the effluent more. Everyone on this thread should keep some hope this can get resolved so we can have our beautiful gardens back to enjoy. Many people have greatly enjoyed walking the paths and seeing the wildlife over the years. Let’s make sure that can continue for the future.
Why did the City take on Wah Chang’s problem and develop this fiasco that isn’t even in the City Limits per Google maps?
Wah Chang paid for their portion of the project to handle their daily load. We even received an award for a public/private project back then.
My question is WHY?
Maybe stop building completely, until simple services can truly be provided. The population should have never been greater than 25,000. It has been sad watching a great town become just another place to live. Jobs would be better than mass housing.
Did any “organization” actually measure the temperature of the leakage vs non leakage? Years ago when working at a gas station by I-5 & Hwy 34, the underground tanks were right about 60 degrees, year round. What’s the temperature of TWG during an extended hot streak?
Does this increase the flow through the Waverly Gravel Pit? If so, I would expect it to reduce the amount of “green crap” growing.
3gal/sec is about 3465 “units” of water per month. I use 1 unit of water /month and pay close to $100 after the City adds it extortion charges. How much is the City going to pay? How much for “FUEL” to run the pump?
The pump will be downstream from Waverly Lake, and the rate is in cubic feet per second, not gallons per second.
Multiply my numbers by 7.48 in that case. That much more!!!!