Every once in a while Albany’s Talking Water Gardens lure me for a bike ride on the gravel trails that wind around the ponds and waterfalls, all dry now because the water treatment function of the system has been shut off.
City ‘may apply’ for Talking Waters permit
Written May 11th, 2026 by Hasso Hering
The Cox Creek Path often takes me past Albany’s Talking Water Gardens, dormant now for the second year in a row. The question is whether this wastewater treatment installation, completed in 2012 at a cost of about $14 million, will ever be used again.
Replacing Waverly bridge: This is the year
Written February 10th, 2026 by Hasso Hering
This is the year the Waverly Drive bridge on Cox Creek will finally be replaced with a new one.
Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Cox Creek, Linn County Road Department, Simpson Park, Talking Water Gardens, Waverly Drive bridge
Tags: Cox Creek, Linn County Road Department, Simpson Park, Talking Water Gardens, Waverly Drive bridge
Water Gardens: What repairs might cost
Written December 22nd, 2025 by Hasso Hering
Depending on the method that is eventually chosen, repairing the leaks from Albany’s Talking Water Gardens could cost as much as $126 million, according to the city’s latest filing in its long-running lawsuit against the wetlands’ engineers.
Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany vs CH2M, CH2M Hill, lawsuit, Linn County Circuit Court, Talking, Talking Water Gardens
Tags: Albany vs CH2M, CH2M Hill, lawsuit, Linn County Circuit Court, Talking, Talking Water Gardens
Bulletin from the path beat: Fence is fixed
Written October 27th, 2025 by Hasso Hering
Nobody has been waiting for this bit of non-news from my bike rides on Albany bikeways, but here it is anyway: The fence on Cox Creek Path has been repaired.
Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Cox Creek path, falling trees, fence repairs, storm damage, Talking Water Gardens
Tags: Cox Creek path, falling trees, fence repairs, storm damage, Talking Water Gardens
What’s this at Water Gardens? Not a fountain
Written October 20th, 2025 by Hasso Hering
Someone asked about what she had come across at Talking Water Gardens, the constructed wetlands Albany built to help cool wastewater. Was it a fountain? I went to find it:
Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Albany treatment plant, Talking Water Gardens, wastewater
Tags: Albany treatment plant, Talking Water Gardens, wastewater
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What should we call it instead?
It’s too late now, probably. Too late for what? For changing the name of Talking Water Gardens, the constructed wetlands that were supposed to cool and further treat the already treated wastewater coming out of the Albany-Millersburg sewage treatment plant.
Tags: bicycling, parks, Talking Water Gardens, wastewater treatment