South Treatment Plant
Water fills and inspires artworks that combine beauty with utility.
As part of the King County Wastewater Treatment Division, the South Plant in Renton is active all day every day, treating between 90 million and 300 million gallons of wastewater in a 24-hour period, depending on the season. The plant serves roughly 839,000 people living in Auburn, Kent, Renton, Bellevue, Issaquah, and Sammamish. It also reclaims recycled water and recovers both biogas and biosolids, which are used to create a nutrient-rich organic fertilizer alternative and a natural soil builder.
4Culture collaborated with the Wastewater Treatment Division to commission two permanent art installations at the South Plant. Lorna Jordan’s Waterworks Gardens contributes to environmental and habitat restoration efforts, and offers the public eight acres of classically designed open space that traces the site’s stormwater filtration process through a series of 11 ponds and 5 gardens connected by a walking path. Water Plant, a kinetic sculpture by Don Fels, uses a surplus impellor from treatment operations to form a mandala-like flower that slowly fills with and releases water from the reflecting pool that surrounds it.
