Portland's storm sewer system dumps a mixture of raw sewage and and stormwater into the Willamette River whenever it rains, a violation of state water quality standards. And recent Endangered Species Act listings oblige the city to take costly steps to facilitate the return of native salmon. Interaction with water is exactly the focus of the living water parks proposed by Keepers of the Waters. At the Living Water Garden in China, designed by Keepers founder and Portland, Oregon resident Betsy Damon, polluted river water is filtered through a series of aeration surfaces and constructed wetlands that enable people to observe how these natural processes can remove pollutants from the river. At the end of the journey the water flows into a children's wading pool, for it has been rendered fit for human contact.
Nature has many ways of taking care of water.
The Living Water Garden is organized to show nature and water working together for water quality. It reveals the truth about our relationship to water. While the garden cleans the water, it educates about the need for whole system solutions and thereby builds a relationship between people and their watershed. It has become the most popular park in the city of Chengdu. Damon's background is as a performance artist.