Aquatic Garden Now Blooms in Storke Plaza

Over the last five months Storke Plaza has had its reflecting pool changed in phases to an aquatic garden filled with fish, water lilies, horsetail, papyrus, and canna, among other plants.

The $23,000 Storke Plaza Pond Restoration Project was shepherded by project manager David Inouye of physical facilities. He credits colleague Paul Gritt with the idea of establishing the garden's bio-filtration system so that the pond maintains a natural balance based on the fish, plants, and other aquatic life.

A major impetus for the Storke reflecting pond's metamorphosis was practical, Inouye said. "Over the years corrosion in the mechanical system and piping had made the pond difficult and expensive to maintain." When the physical facilities engineers looked for alternatives, the example of a smaller pond in the Cheadle Hall inner courtyard came to mind.

Cheadle Pond, as the building's employees know it, had been resuscitated and transformed into an aquatic garden through the volunteer efforts of Aeryn Richmonde, a former planning assistant with a passion for water plants, and a few other employees. The pond's plant and animal life became the guide for what is going on in Storke Plaza.

To be successful, such sensitive natural systems in living aquatic gardens "must be respected," points out Inouye. "Debris and other pollutants (cannot) be placed into the pond."