Vancouver Water Resources Education Center

When the City of Vancouver was just a village of 600 people that supported the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Fort Vancouver, water pollution was not a significant issue. But as the Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area has grown to over two million people in the last 175 years, the threats to its water resources have become a greater concern. In 1996 the City of Vancouver opened the Water Resources Education Center to "teach people of all ages to better care for and make wise decisions about water." The Center offers a variety of programs and displays to educate visitors about the water treatment and sewer systems to which they might otherwise give little thought. The Exhibit Hall includes displays that explain the water cycle, water treatment processes, water and sewer systems, and water conservation. Visitors even have the option to take a treated water taste test! There is also a computer game room, a multimedia theater, the White Sturgeon Art Gallery, a 350-gallon aquarium with live white sturgeon, a water science laboratory, and tours of the Marine Park Water Reclamation Facility. The Marine Park overlook provides access to Vancouver’s Waterfront Renaissance Trail. The Water Resources Education Center is part of the Vancouver National Historic Reserve, a collection of historic sites cooperatively managed by the city, state, National Park Service, and U.S. Army.