The Water Museum in Quito is a must visit! It is built on one of the highest points in the city. Besides having a fantastic view of the basilica and the down town area, it is one of the most interesting and entertaining museums I have visited. It was clearly designed with children in mind. In the first exhibit, you climb up a ladder and arrive at the top of a mountain where you become a droplet of water. In lieu of a river, the museum has built a bright blue slide to help you imagine your first moments as a drop of water melting off an ancient glacier. As you navigate the slides and ladders of the exhibit you begin to see all the ways that water can be used. A drop of water might power a hydroelectric plant like the Paute plant in eastern Ecuador. Because Ecuador uses more energy than it produces, the country has purchased energy from Peru and Colombia. In recent years, this dependence on other countries has pushed the Ecuadorian government to begin exploring the use of hydroelectricity. In 2006, seventeen percent of the country’s energy came from hydroelectric power. However, I have been told that that number has increased significantly in the last four years.
A droplet of water might also be treated for drinking. The young woman who gave us a tour of the museum was proud to inform us that the water plant in Quito produced water that was clean enough to drink. However, no one we met in the city would dare ingest the water. Quito, like many cities, has a fantastic water treatment program but a less than sufficient water distribution system. From what I understood, the lack of pressure in the pipes keeps the treated water from arriving in a drinkable state.
I also found that a visit to the museum greatly enhanced my water vocabulary. I
will post a list of my new water vocabulary in the coming week as well as pictures from the exhibit.
The best part of the museo de agua was the bubble room! Words cannot do it justice! See pictures here!
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