What happens when a forgotten piece of public infrastructure gets a second life?
Deep beneath Houston, Texas, sits the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern, a remarkable piece of the city’s history that once served as a municipal drinking-water reservoir. Constructed in 1926, this massive underground structure held up to 15 million gallons of water before eventually being taken out of service.
Rather than letting this piece of infrastructure fade into history, Caitlin Ferrell, director of marketing and communications for the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, explains how they helped transform it into something entirely different: a one-of-a-kind public destination where history, architecture, and art come together.
In this episode of APWA’s Roving Reporter, we explore how an aging public resource was reimagined into a community treasure. From preserving historic infrastructure to creating new cultural experiences, the Cistern offers an inspiring example of how sustainability can mean looking at what we already have and imagining what it could become.
Sometimes, the best way forward is to give something from the past a new purpose.
To learn more about the Buffalo Bayou Cistern, read our corresponding article in the APWA Reporter magazine.
Learn more about the Buffalo Bayou Partnership here.
Click the image below or the “Use this Resource” button to watch the video.
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CLL
Click, Listen & Learn (CLL) are interactive educational webinars. Each program is led by top experts in the field who share new ideas, methods, and technologies in a fast-paced two-hour time frame. These programs are available free to APWA members. CLL programs are eligible for continuing education units (CEUs).
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