DuBois Waterfall facing Structural Issues

[Bon]

DuBois Waterfall facing Structural Issues

Tue, August 19, 2025 by wcednews

DUBOIS – The decorative waterfall at the end of Liberty Boulevard in DuBois is facing some structural issues.

Director of Public Works Scott Farrell and his team have begun to look at the area to determine why the waterfall has shifted forward.

“We don’t know if the liner tore, because the water did turn into mud,” explained Farell. “Because if you look you can see the gravel, if you stand there long enough, will fall down behind the stone. There is something that is going on there.”

With the waterfall being in place for just over four years, it is unclear to city officials if the contractor can be held liable

[cando]

First off, expecting the waterfall pic 

Secondly, never liked it anyway 

Thirdly, “Hey Petee & The Garden Club,  Remembering & missing your beautiful work that had to be replaced by this!”

[Petee]

At least they tried.  I can give them credit for that.  However, had they asked the residents for their suggestions and then created the plans, maybe this could have been prevented, maybe not.  I do think a smaller and more delicate/elegant waterfall would have been sufficient, more interesting and easier to maintain.

I'm not sure if engineers were asked for help. but I'm sure there are tons of them in town.  I'd say, back to the drawing board.  Those huge stones were just too much and I don't think they dug far enough back into the slope.

Some of the upper landscaping features are phenomenal.  As far as the trees, there are way too many.  They're supposed to be special features, not long lines of tired looking place holders.  Some history and different species would have made the embankment interesting and prettier for more of the year.  I have no idea why the removed the beautiful little area at the college end of the embankment.  

I still see a bend in the wall that I don't think was supposed to be there, but I'm a nit-picker, and what do I know.

Kudos to those who are trying to make the area beautiful and now trying to fix it.  I say smaller, more interesting varieties and natural looking with smaller focus points.

Don't look at me because I and most of those who worked on that area are well up into their 70s and happy to watch others.

OK, my opinion is done!    Forge on!

[L8RG8R]

From what I hear, there will still be the lower waterfall.  The upper waterfall is the one that failed.  I believe it may have been too steep.  As for engineering, this is what Landscape One does for a living.  The materials they used are all designed by engineers.  Unfortunately, the materials failed, thus leaving a big problem.  The city workers do not have the knowledge or gumption to repair so I believe they are just going to remove and place rocks back in there.  The last time I drove by when they were actually working, one guy was running the excavator and the rest of the workers were standing there playing on their phones.  The repair may take awhile at that pace.

[Keyser Soze]

The news story says it was in place for 4 years but it was not finished till late summer of 2022. So the water fall functioned for 2 full summers and a partial one.( about 14 months total) Hopefully the lower one will not suffer the same fate.

[Petee]

4 hours ago, L8RG8R said:

From what I hear, there will still be the lower waterfall.  The upper waterfall is the one that failed.  I believe it may have been too steep.  As for engineering, this is what Landscape One does for a living.  The materials they used are all designed by engineers.  Unfortunately, the materials failed, thus leaving a big problem.  The city workers do not have the knowledge or gumption to repair so I believe they are just going to remove and place rocks back in there.  The last time I drove by when they were actually working, one guy was running the excavator and the rest of the workers were standing there playing on their phones.  The repair may take awhile at that pace.

What materials failed, and will the provider of them make it right with the city?

[L8RG8R]

44 minutes ago, Petee said:

What materials failed, and will the provider of them make it right with the city?

From what I’m hearing it was a piece under the rocks that is used to create a reservoir of water to recycle through the waterfall. 
 

It’s hard to tell if the provider will do anything. Considering they manufactured the material doesn’t guarantee it was either installed properly or something shifted with the rocks that was out of the control of the builder. 

[Lizard]

And now it will cost even more taxpayer money to repair, money that could have been used for fixing something that is useful rather than nice to look at.

[L8RG8R]

1 hour ago, Lizard said:

And now it will cost even more taxpayer money to repair, money that could have been used for fixing something that is useful rather than nice to look at.

I'm sure Jen Jackson and Kristin Vida have the answers for it.   That's who is always in the paper talking about it.

[Petee]

22 hours ago, L8RG8R said:

From what I’m hearing it was a piece under the rocks that is used to create a reservoir of water to recycle through the waterfall. 
 

It’s hard to tell if the provider will do anything. Considering they manufactured the material doesn’t guarantee it was either installed properly or something shifted with the rocks that was out of the control of the builder. 

Who manufactured it?  That's my question.  Was it a business or the city workers?  Was it installed properly?  How did it fail; a puncture, crack, movement out of place, blockage?

This is the kind of stuff that makes citizens uncomfortable.  They are the final judges of what is right or wrong.  Yes, they elect persons to be in position of authority and "responsibility" to report accurately.  That's where a failure should NOT occur.

[L8RG8R]

1 hour ago, Petee said:

Who manufactured it?  That's my question.  Was it a business or the city workers?  Was it installed properly?  How did it fail; a puncture, crack, movement out of place, blockage?

This is the kind of stuff that makes citizens uncomfortable.  They are the final judges of what is right or wrong.  Yes, they elect persons to be in position of authority and "responsibility" to report accurately.  That's where a failure should NOT occur.

So you're telling everyone that since a piece failed and broke out of anyone's control, it's our elected officials fault?  That makes zero sense.  A contractor was hired to complete a job (which they have done many times before and even for the city in which those attractions are functioning perfectly fine), the part failed and broke.  This project was started years ago and there is no current warranty on anything that we are aware of.  The city and council are making taking the proper measures in a fiscally manner by not spending the funds to try to repair a waterfall that is clearly out of the scope of their knowledge.  They will repair the wall to where its structurally sound and cosmetically attractive and it will be perfectly fine and save the city money in the long run.  Would I love to see the waterfall return?  Absolutely, however I totally understand the direction the city is taking as well.

[Petee]

I did not accuse the city of anything, I simply asked who installed or built the part that failed and how did it fail?  Simple question.  Why get so antsy about it?

As I said, acting like it's a secret is a lot of what is wrong in this town.  The elected officials are there to answer the citizens' questions.  So who is going to answer the question or is it a secret?

[Petee]

OK, got the straight poop on the waterfall and I fail to see why it couldn't just be discussed with the public.

There's a disagreement as to who is responsible, and the fault may go clear back to.......Suplizio.  A decision about the waterfall was made in the planning and obviously it didn't work.  Who made that decision is a difference of opinion causing the lack of communication.

It was something about gravel supporting the rocks and possibly they washed away allowing the big rocks to move.  It may be right, it may be wrong but it'll all come out in the wash.  

[BillyC]

Not surprised at all his name is behind this. I've said before that it's highly likely he got a kickback from it.

[disgruntled]

On 8/22/2025 at 9:58 AM, L8RG8R said:

I'm sure Jen Jackson and Kristin Vida have the answers for it.   That's who is always in the paper talking about it.

heaven forbid anyone ever question "the elite".  That's why our city is in the financial quandary it's in--no one was questioning "the club".  

As a side note:  should anyone think to elect the controller to a position of power is foolish.  It was his number one job to question and to prevent financial mis-management.