The park you can’t play in

Just about any warm, sunny day Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill is filled with people tossing Frisbees and laying out in the sun. The park, opened in 2006, is actually a cap over the Lincoln Reservoir and includes an extensive "water feature" in Seattle Parks Department lingo. The water feature is comprised of an imitation waterfall, a sluice taking water into a large section that mimics a stream (complete with faux steppingstones) and a final section that's a shallow pond. The whole thing is gorgeous, a design home run, and on summer days it's not uncommon to see dozens of children, adults and dogs playing in the water.

All of that splashing around has caused the usual questions and speculating on the Hill. Is it legal to be in the water? Isn't that drinking water?

On Monday, I happened to walk through the park and ran smack into something I hadn't seen before: two fully clothed young men, often seen sitting on Broadway, in the water up to their necks in the moat around the imitation waterfall. I wasn't sure if they were swimming or bathing per se and really didn't care, but I did want to clarify what the rules of the water were.

"You're not supposed to be in it at all anywhere," said Joelle Ligon, a Parks spokeswoman. "It wasn't designed as a water feature to play in. It was designed for visual enjoyment."

Yes, the City of Seattle has literally created a park you can't play in.

Ligon said there are signs affixed to the feature itself telling people not to be in the water. But in reality the signs are tiny plaques, hardly visible to most people, and their words aren't exactly commanding, reading,  "Keep people and pets out of the water and don't climb on the fountain. Thank you!"

The signs don't get much attention from parkgoers. It's obvious why: the water feature so replicates the sense and feel of a stream that it literally begs you to take off your shoes on hot days and walk in its tepid water. Or throw a ball for your dog in the feature's southern pond. Or simply sack out in the water altogether, as one man did this past Wednesday in the 103 degree heat.

Ligon did clear up one myth. The water feature's waters are not part of a drinking water supply, but are instead simply recirculated and treated with chemicals she couldn't specify.

"It's a constant battle to keep people out of that water," Ligon said. "In weather like this summer the situation is exacerbated."

About all the Parks Department can do about the situation is to make occasional patrols with its new park rangers. But the rangers cannot hand out tickets or write trespassing citations, as both are the province of police officers. Instead, Ligon said they enforce the park code by telling would-be swimmers the rules. Ligon says people usually cooperate.

But, to judge by this summer, as soon as the rangers range elsewhere, people are back in the water. And most everyone seems OK with that.

Dawdy was a reporter for The Seattle Weekly