North american artist Jeff Zischke has completed a Nodal Water Garden, a solar-powered floating installation in one of the major canals of Scottsdale, a city adjacent to Phoenix, in Arizona. Funded by a partnership between the City of Scottsdale Public Art and Salt River Project, the major water and power supplier in the metro-Phoenix area, Nodal Water Garden is the largest display of public art ever allowed within an operating canal, occupying almost 300 metres of canal surface area.

The installation seeks to underline the strategic and economic role the canals have played in the growth and development of the area, from their use by the Hohokam Native American tribe, which built the canals to bring water to crops, to the present.

The design of the various floating shapes is derived from symbols of the Hohokam and Pima native cultures. Illuminated at night by solar power, the installation achieves a striking effect at night, filling the waterway and providing multiple places along the path for the community to interact with the sculpture.

The installation was completed in five weeks: each of the modules is made of fluted polypropylene, anchored by blocks of concrete. The pods are illuminated by three different kinds of LED lights. At night, the pieces are illuminated for eight hours.