Gary,
Following is information about an interesting art/science/environment
project at a sewage treatment plant in Renton. Waterworks Gardens is a
beautiful place and well worth a visit. Birds love the wetland section, and
the project is adjacent to the Black River heron rookery.
Kathryn True
Vashon Island
ktrue at centurytel.net

Waterworks Gardens is an environmental artwork that naturally treats
stormwater, enhances an on-site wetland, provides five garden rooms, and
creates eight acres of new open space for public use. The place invites
people to observe the natural processes of water purification while
connecting them to the cycles and mysteries of water. Stormwater runoff is
collected from the grounds of the reclamation plant and drained into eleven
ponds that settle out contaminants and sediments. Once clean, the water is
then released into the wetland below, helping to sustain plants,
microorganisms, and wildlife. The stormwater treatment ponds and the
wetland form an earth/water sculpture which funnels, captures, and releases
water. Waterworks Gardens complements the controlled treatment plant
processes and provides a natural, organic way to reclaim water that shifts
the balance towards nature.


With the garden as its conceptual framework, the project communicates a
story about the purification of water. Landforms, plantings, water bodies,
and garden rooms are abstractly expressed as a large scale flowering plant,
symbolic of the filtering power of plants to cleanse water. The progression
of five garden rooms engages the visitor on an intimate scale and follows
the story of the water1s cycle: impure, working, mysterious, beautiful, and
life-sustaining.
1. The Knoll evokes the root of the plant through its use of stone and metal
and its underground watercourse. Stormwater spills into a grate-covered
channel which cuts through the geometry of a basalt column colonnade.
Arranged in forced perspective towards an overlook, the columns focus the
view on the first stormwater pond and the wetland below. Red quartzite and
pebble paving evokes a river wash and echoes the flow of the grate-covered
water. At the overlook, the water splashes into the open system of ponds.
2. The Funnel consists of a series of terraced leaf-shaped ponds connected
by the path, or stem. As the visitor funnels down the hill, the landforms
heighten, the leaf-shaped ponds become smaller, and the plants become
taller.
3. At the bottom of the hill, cleansed stormwater cascades into The Grotto
which is shaped as a seed pod. Craggy shotcrete walls, evergreen plantings,
a fountain, water seeps, and pools create a dank, fertile environment. A
mosaic suggestive of a sprouting seed pod is inlaid on the ground plane,
walls, and benches. Mahogany-red beach pebbles sprout from the sea-blue
marble pod underfoot, tracing root-like tendrils up the grotto walls.
Richly textured benches of multi-colored marble and pebbles provide a place
for repose.
4. The Passage evokes a sense of calm as the path passes by a row of
Lombardy poplars and three circular ponds which symbolize the fruit of the
plant.
5. In The Release, cleansed water passes from the pond system to the
wetland, and then from the wetland to Springbrook Creek. The ribbon-like
islands and channels are expressed as a flame/flower form, reinforced by
bands of native plantings. The path meanders through the wetland and
connects with regional trail systems.

The project was able to succeed because the agency, the community, the arts
commissions, and the consultant team all worked to together in a cooperative
way. Waterworks Gardens supports habitat, treats water, engages the
community, and introduces aesthetics into our infrastructure of water. On a
more emotional level, it allows people to make contact with the cycles and
mysteries of water.

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Bletsch [mailto:garybletsch at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, December 23, 2002 9:26 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: sewage plant question

Dear Tweeters,
I don't know much about sewage treatment. I do know there are often great
numbers and variety of birds on sewage treatment ponds.
I have often wondered whether newer facilities tend to favor birds or not.
Some facilities are roofed over, and offer nothing to birds. These
facilities seem modern to me, but I don't know. Are they still building
sewage ponds today, or must it all go underneath a cover?
One question I have often asked myself--has any municipality ever considered
birds in the decision-making process connected with construction or
renovation of such facilities? It is not inconceivable that a good sewage
plant could bring birders' tourist dollars to local businesses.
On a non-sewage note, I found two Savannah Sparrows on Cockreham Island
today, loosely associating with six Western Meadowlarks.
Good birding,
Gary Bletsch
near Lyman, WA
garybletsch at yahoo.com <mailto:garybletsch at yahoo.com>


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