The
Santa Fe Children's Museum is full of surprises for young
kids and adults, including a vast array of water awareness projects.
The museum features a water play set, a water garden, water
fountains and an extensive water catchment system. The goal
of these water features is to teach children about water
and how to conserve and manage it.
The
Museum building was originally constructed in the 1930s and
extensively remodeled in 1989 and now features over 5,000 square
feet (462 square meters) of children exhibition area and one
acre of outdoor play area, picnic spaces and landscaped grounds.
The
outside grounds are home of an outdoors learning center. It
is, dubbed "Earthworks", and features a collection
of exhibits including: gravity and human powered watering systems,
rainwater catchment system, biofiltration system, reuse of water,
wetlands, berms, swales and an assortment of interactive water
exhibits for children.
"The
rain catchment systems forms the heart of our outside garden,"
according to Erin O'Neill, the Earthworks Garden Manager
for the Santa Fe Children's Museum. "It supplies water
to the garden, the pond and the children exhibits and is a system
we are quite proud of," she says.
The
water catchment system was built in 1997 and designed by local
landscape architect Anne Nelson. It features a playful water
cascade for children to play with and a set of berms and swales
for the overflow which wind through the garden and play areas.
Rainwater is harvested off both the roof and the parking lot.
Water off the over 6,000 square foot (557 square meters) roof
funnels into two different systems. One system feeds a large
cistern for use in the garden and a second set of downspouts
funnel to a series of holding tanks that eventually run into
the pond system.
The
rainwater harvesting system consists of gutters and multiple
downspouts feeding one tank capable of holding 10,000 gallons
(37,900 liters) of water. The tank is above ground and is playfully
painted to fit right into the surrounding play and learning
area (see picture).
In
an area that gets only 14 inches (35.5 centimeters) of rain
a year, it is critical to teach young children how to manage
and conserve water as well as capture as much rain as possible
in order to reduce the monthly water bills for the non-profit
museum. All overflow from the tank flow into the garden and
not wasted or put into the local stormwater system. The cistern
supply a gravity fed irrigation system and hoses to water the
extensive garden.
The
Museum also drains water off the over 25,000 square foot (2,322
square meters) parking lot into a set of berms that run through
the garden area. This system of berms and resulting swale result
in no storm water runoff leaving the site. It percolates into
the ground and brings positive results to the local water table,
while supplying water to support the plants in the garden. The
surrounding garden and plants in turn provide habitat for beneficial
insects and support a greater diversity of plant and wildlife.
The
Earthworks garden is a simple, understandable model of sustainable
methods for cleaning and reusing harvested rainwater. This model
can be easily reproduced by businesses and homeowners alike
for a reasonable amount of time and money; plus it provides
monetary and aesthetic value for years to come.
The
museum is open to the public from 10AM - 5PM Wednesday through
Saturday and 12PM - 5PM on Sunday. It features a wide range
of indoor and outdoor programs for children. Tours of the rainwater
system can be arranged by contacting Erin at the Museum. The
Museum is located at 1050 Old Pecos Trail. More information
can be found at: www.santafechildrensmuseum.org
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