Aquarium Opens Our Water Future Friday, May 26

May 2, 2017

The Aquarium’s former Our Watersheds: Pathway to the Pacific exhibit area has been renovated and transformed into the new Our Water Future exhibit. The newly themed area will open on May 26 with interactive exhibits, digital displays, a monarch butterfly garden, and other components. The aim is to help visitors understand where our water comes from and what conservation issues we face with our water supply now and in the future. Find out what you can do to conserve water and which actions are most effective. The exhibit redesign is funded by a grant from the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy (RMC).

As visitors enter Our Water Future from the Shark Lagoon area, they will see a map with lighted pathways showing where California’s water comes from and how it is allocated. On the back side of that panel, a flatscreen displays real-time data. Next visitors encounter an interactive model of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel River watersheds. Visitors can still push buttons to turn on “rain” over the map and see how water flows over land to the ocean. Signs around the map detail groundwater storage, regional rainfall, and flooding. Moving counter-clockwise, there are exhibit features demonstrating how to transform lawns into California-friendly and native landscapes and how water gets to our tap at home. Next, visitors can learn about indoor water use through an interactive station that demonstrates the amount of water used by devices and appliances in a home. Finally, visitors can learn about our future water supply via digital video screen and the impact of plastic pollution at the exhibit stop near the classroom.

The Our Water Future exhibit area also features an enhanced surrounding garden area and upgrades to the Premier Watershed Classroom. The section designated as the Butterfly Garden will include plants the butterflies rely on for food and signage explaining their life cycle.

Public Debut: May 26, 2017
Press Preview: Thursday, May 25, 2017, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.