“Measured in acre-feet or gallons-per-capita-per-day, water usually is thought of as a commodity, to be bought, sold, regulated and ultimately used and reused. Less attention is devoted to nonfunctional uses of water.” -Joe Gelt
Water is an essential component of life. We drink water and use it to grow, process and cook our food. We shower with water, wash our clothes in it, and use it in our toilets, sinks, and dishwashers. We buy and sell water. We drink water from bottles, sold by the gallon or liter, and it is one of the basic services that flow between our walls, under our feet, and all around us.
For all of the uses of water, we rarely have a chance to celebrate water. We spend a lot of time using water, and we even spend time enjoying water to cool or cleanse us. But there is rarely conscious thought about the ways water creates and sustains life. We are taught to fear the use of water, not enjoy it. Water is essential, and so is our contact with it.
Until modern day fountains were considered integral to life in the desert. Now, fountains are one of the first things eliminated when water is scarce. But Joe Gelt argues that fountains fulfill a human need for contact with water:
“Because deserts are dry and receive little rain, desert dwellers do not often encounter naturally occurring sources of water…An appropriately designed fountain then need not be an anomaly in the desert but a creative response to the human need for contact with water, a need not readily satisfied in the desert.”
The need for contact with water is apparent and is already fulfilled in other ways in the desert. People have pools in their backyard, fountains are used for play in some commercial developments, and water parks throughout Phoenix are very busy during the long months of summer in Arizona. But water is rarely used in the urban environment as a form of public, everyday enjoyment and celebration of water.
Early dwellers in this arid region, the Ho Ho Kam, understood the need for water for life. They built the first canals in the region to support their agriculture. Jack Swilling, one of the first Anglo settlers of Phoenix, built canals to water the arid landscape and turn it into agriculture. Water has always been important to Phoenicians and it is the only reason we can support life in central Arizona; without it, the city would not exist.
Water features in the desert serve many purposes, and the reasons water features should be a part of Arizona’s urban landscapes are many. First, fountains and other water features make Phoenix more comfortable. Water can be cooling and create microclimatic effects that not only lower the temperature of a small area, but also give the appearance of a cool space. When water features are connected to or act as cooling towers, which work like evaporative coolers to moisten and cool the air, the water feature can benefit the people that frequent the area.
Second, water features can serve to change the perception of summers in Phoenix as hot, dry and unfriendly to pedestrians. Water along frequented pedestrian paths and in usable public spaces can create comfortable environments that benefit people. When visitors and residents alike see these features, and experience their cooling effect, it serves to change these negative views of Phoenix.
Another reason to create and maintain water features is as a form of public art. Water features that are well designed can serve as art in public spaces, which encourages conversation. The larger benefit connected to public art is the ability to teach a shared history and to share civic values. Water fountains that demonstrate, explain or attract attention to the history of Phoenix can be beneficial to everyone here. One poor example is the 2nd Avenue street improvements that stretch from Adams to Fillmore in Downtown Phoenix. Small obelisks placed along the street, near desert-trees and rocks, explain that the street is on the same alignment as one of the original irrigation ditches of Jack Swilling, the Phoenix pioneer. No water is used to demonstrate this – only harsh xeriscaping that only contributes to the dry, hot climate; the trees are small and will probably never provide substantial shade. To pay homage to the original reason Anglo settlers were in Phoenix through something hot and dry misrepresents our history, culture and reason for being here.
Another reason to place and maintain water features is to create usable public space. Water features, especially in hot environments, can contribute to public space that is enjoyable to people. Not only are the cooling benefits useful, but it gives people a natural attraction and reason to stay in a public space. It also is a good way to mitigate the noise of traffic near a public space, or to create a sense of privacy when others are nearby.
The final reason I believe water features are so important is to celebrate water and life and the connection between the two. Our bodies are as much as 70% water, we drink gallons of water per day, we use many more for daily sanitation, cleaning and food preparation. We cannot exist without water. Because water is so essential, we need to see it, talk about it, use it, experience it. Water should not just be a commodity we buy and sell, but something we recognize as so intimately connected to our everyday lives.