Old faithful

Laura Turner said she and her husband, Conrad, wanted to live near Memorial Gardens (the former Buffalo Wallow) because it was the closest thing Odessa has to the bayou they used to live on in Houston. And she particularly liked the fountain that once spouted water from the center - even if her neighbors didn't all care for it.

"When the wind blew it did blow a little mist," she said. "But windows are washable."

And for the past two years, that wind has been the only thing causing a ripple in the center of the playa lake at Memorial Gardens Park. But, soon, that could be changing.

The city has budgeted $100,000 to replace the fountain, said Steve Patton, parks and recreation director. Preliminary quotes have revealed a $60,000 price tag.

"It's just seen a better day and quit operating," Patton said of the fountain, which was installed in 1991.

Patton hopes to start on the project by summer. And once it is installed, the fountain will require 18 inches of water to operate, which the lake doesn't currently have.

The fountain is largely decorative, but it also provides some aeration for the lake, which takes drainage from a watershed that extends nearly to Ratliff Stadium, almost three miles away, Patton said.

The nearby Music City Mall parking lot brings in everything from motor oil and grease to diapers, Patton said. And then there are the ducks inhabiting the lake and the waste they bring.

"Anytime you have that many ducks, there's going to be a smell," he said. "It doesn't matter how much you aerate."

The city also combats the duck odor by relocating some of them from the park each March, Patton said.

"They get way, way overpopulated," he said.

Mike DeMarco, a neighbor of the Turners, said the fountain makes a difference.

"I like the fountain," he said. "It aerates the lake. It's aesthetic, and it's also environmental."

The big problem with the lake are people who dump trash and even leave graffiti on the walls around the park, Turner said, who has lived by the lake for 20 years.

"If people wouldn't throw junk in it, it would probably stay a whole lot cleaner," she said, "but people are people."

But DeMarco said the park, which has walking paths marked by statues and park benches, is a big improvement over how the lake once looked.

"What the city has done is really money well spent," he said. "Twenty-five years ago it was just a mud pit. The kids used to go out there with motorcross bikes. It was just a playground."