The plan to supply Albany’s Talking Water Gardens with a pump from Cox Creek has hit a snag. I noticed this on a bike ride to the constructed wetlands on Thursday evening.
Water has resumed flowing at Talking Water Gardens, the constructed wetlands that Albany was forced to let dry up this summer.
The continued shutdown of Albany’s Talking Water Gardens as a wastewater treatment system defies common sense. So I asked the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to explain.
Sixteen years ago, the Albany City Council decided to build the wetlands known as Talking Water Gardens because members thought the city had to do something to cool treated wastewater in order to meet state rules. Now a lawyer for the city says no, the rules did not require it.
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.
Albany’s Talking Water Gardens has been out of operation since last December, and this dry spring it really shows. The water level in the lower pond is way down, and the upper ponds are completely dry.
New DEQ permit mum on Water Gardens
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.
Tags: DEQ, NPDES, Talking Water Gardens, wastewater permit