"Talking Water Gardens," the landscape and wetlands being built near the Willamette River, has received an Excellence in Environmental Engineering award from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers.

The city of Albany announced the award this week.

The project, developed by CH2M Hill for the cities of Albany and Millersburg and ATI Wah Chang, received the award in AAEE's environmental stewardship category. It also received the organization's Superior Achievement Award, which was presented to the best entry overall in the competition.

The winners were recognized at the AAEE 2011 awards luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on May 4.

Talking Water Gardens is the first public/private engineering project of its kind in the U.S. It was designed to provide cooling and additional natural treatment for wastewater before it is discharged to the Willamette River.

It consists of 39 acres of created wetlands with 11 acres of landscaped area. The perimeter landscaping provides the opportunity to re-use effluent for irrigation. The site, previously occupied by two abandoned lumber mills, sits between the Millersburg railroad switch yard and a 200-acre environmental preserve bounded by creeks, a backwater river channel oxbow, and the Willamette.

Kurisu International Landscape Architects designed the waterfalls and special landscape features to encourage the public to walk the trails and discover the overlooks and habitat niches of the site while experiencing the sounds and views of waterfalls that are passively cooling and treating water.

The project will be the first in the nation designed to treat a combination of municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plant effluents for temperature, total dissolved solids and nutrient reduction.

Democrat-Herald