Waste River Beds is a series of three rock-like sculptures, each constructed from materials sourced from Philadelphia’s waste stream and encrusted with clusters of freshwater mussel shells. The shells, collected from the banks of the Delaware River over a series of months, mimic the appearance of a healthy mussel bed. Each sculpture is topped with samples of still, unfiltered water taken from the local watershed, provided by project collaborators, volunteers, and members of the general public. The use of domestic drinking vessels alludes to the Delaware River’s role as the source of more than half of the drinking water in the city of Philadelphia, and how the quality of our water is directly linked to the health of our watershed ecologies.