~ The Japanese Garden at the Donald C. Tillman Plant:

Farsightedness in government is rare, and when encountered, to be applauded. Decades before most cities had grasped the rudimentary concepts of recycling, Los Angeles was already building a water re-cycling facility that would turn the problem of abundant waste, into an abundance of what our desert community needs most—clean water!

However, building an unglamorous industrial plant in a densely populated urban area was a project fraught with difficulties so new and unique, that neither legal nor engineering precedents offered solutions. The genius of the creators of our facility lay in their ability to transcend the traditional barriers between the disciplines of engineering, horticulture, and industrial design and combine them into a symbiotic relationship that would serve our community. Thus, from a water recycling plant of enormous practical value, sprang a Japanese garden of exquisite beauty, profound cultural significance, and enormous educational potential for future generations of Californians.

Dr. Koichi Kawana’s Garden of Water and Fragrance, was and is the mitigating factor that made the building of this ecological miracle possible. Far from being simply a facade, the garden has grown into a cultural and educational center in its own right, one that continues to make significant contributions to the public’s awareness of the need for water re-use, and the value of Japanese art & culture in all its many forms.

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