This former pond at Talking Water Gardens was completely dry on Sept. 19, 2025.
The City of Albany has received the draft of a new permit to discharge treated wastewater, but the proposal ignores the problems with Talking Water Gardens, the $13 million treatment system that the city was forced to shut down.
The proposed permit has not been made public. But Dylan Darling, a public affairs specialist with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, told me:
“The draft proposed permit does not authorize discharge to or from Albany’s Talking Water Gardens. DEQ action related to the Talking Water Gardens is addressed in Mutual Agreement and Order WQ M-WR-2018-274, which resulted in discharge to the Talking Water Gardens ceasing on Nov. 27, 2024.”
As for the permit process, Darling wrote:
“Applicant review documents are not shared with the public. DEQ has shared a draft of the proposed wastewater permit with the applicant – the Albany Millersburg water reclamation facility – and awaits their review. The applicant has until the end of the month to submit any comments on the draft proposed permit. DEQ then will update the draft and share it with the public for their review.”
Albany Public Works Director Chris Bailey confirmed that the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPEDS) permit proposed by the DEQ “would not authorize wastewater discharge to or from the Talking Water Gardens.”
This system of ponds and waterfalls was completed in 2012 as a way to further treat and cool effluent from the Albany-Millersburg treatment plant and ATI, the Millersburg metals company, before the water is discharged to the Willamette River.
In 2013 the city notified DEQ that the system was leaking into groundwater and nearby creeks. DEQ imposed a nominal fine in 2019 and ordered the city to make a plan to stop the leaks. That proved impossible, and to settle the case, the city shut the system down in November 2024.
This year, Albany Public Works started pumping water into the system from Cox Creek to try to keep some of the plantings alive over the summer. But as far as I have been able to see on occasional bicycle rides on the Talking Water gravel paths, the effect has been minimal.
So now what? What’s the future of Talking Waters in the long run?
Bailey told me:
” The City’s intention with the Talking Water Gardens is to return it to use as part of the wastewater treatment system, as it was intended and designed for that purpose. Whether or not the final renewed NPDES permit includes further direction related to TWG, that goal will remain.”
Reaching that goal, however, will be up to somebody else. Bailey is leaving at the end of the month to become the utilities manager for the city of Corvallis. (hh)
THE 13 MILLION DOLLAR DREAM DOWN THE SEWER HOLE…LOL..
Open up the spigot and tell the DEQ to sue.
What I failed to poiint out in my post, is that Oregon ignores federal immigration law and allows riots nightly in Portland, so why should the city of Albany obay Oregon law.
That’s the way to do it. Return it to use until you get fined. Close it down. Wait a little while. Return it to use until you get fined. Close it down. Wait a little while. Return it to use blah blah blah