By the time Yen Shen-horn started roaming the ponds and lakes of Taoyuan as a boy, in fact, they had already been through many major changes. They have fallen dramatically in number, for one thing, to something over a thousand, most of which are no longer used for irrigation.
當顏聖紘開始來到千湖鄉尋覓水生植物，桃園陂塘的面貌已經過劇烈變化。由於石門大圳等水利系統的建構，桃園目前只剩一千多個陂塘，其中大半已失去灌溉功能與原有的生態樣貌。