Events

EVENT

Waterfest

July 23, 2022

10:00 am–2:00 pm

The Metropolitan Waterworks Museum is partnering with a variety of local organizations to celebrate water and “Water Heroes” — the people and organizations who work to protect water quality, watersheds, aquatic life, and water access around the world every day.

Join us for water testing, activities, demonstrations, water related games, and crafts! Learn about local and global water issues, as well as potential solutions, in a fun, family-friendly atmosphere.

This event is FREE and will take place rain or shine. Suggested Donation $5. Face Coverings are recommended but not required while inside the museum building.

The first 150 guests can pick up a FREE ice cream treat from our on-site ice cream truck (subsequent guests may purchase treats as they like).

Live Animal Presentations will take place at 11:30am and 12:30pm.

We hope to see you there!

Help us monitor capacity by reserving your free tickets in advance.

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Activities:

Outside

 1.      Trash and Recycle Toss Game: After determining whether an object goes in the trash or recycling bin, try your hand at tossing it in to win a prize.

2.      Waterworks Skee Ball Game: Try to get water to reservoirs all over the world in this unique take on a classic arcade game. Win a prize for your efforts.

3.      UV Light Launch Game: Take out the germs behind some deadly waterborne diseases by launching “rays of UV light” to knock them down. Win a prize for your efforts.

4.      MA Water Resources Authority: Learn where your drinking water comes from and where your wastewater goes after you flush. Check out demos, games, stickers, coloring books and more.

5.      Watershed in a Box with the Charles River Watershed Association Drop by this fun, hands-on science demo and learn about the ways pollution can get into a river and affect the wildlife, ecosystems, and communities around it. You’ll find out what you can do to help, too!

6.      Try a Yoke and Bucket: Walk a short distance with one of the oldest water gathering tools still in use today.

7.      Waterworks Jungle Gym (for children 6 and under): Little ones will take on the role of a raindrop as they crawl through all of the elements of a good waterworks system.

8.      Animal Adventures Presentations: Learn about some of the aquatic animals rescued by Animal Adventures, as well as the threats they and their habitats face in the wild.

9.      Super Star Ice Cream Truck: The first 150 guests can pick up a free ice cream treat! Ice cream will then be available for purchase.

10.   Water Wall and Play Area: Have fun exploring a variety of water toys.

11.   MWRA Drinking Fountain: Stay hydrated with a sip of good old tap water from the MWRA’s portable water fountain.

12.   Ocean Animal Scavenger Hunt: Take on the role of a Marine Biologist as you search the ocean deep for all the sea animal figurines on your list.

13.   Information Desk: Stop here for information, directions, lost and found, assistance, or to make a donation in support of the museum’s programs.

Inside

14.      Dye a Paper Raindrop: Through the magic of capillary action, use markers and water to create cool designs on your paper rain drop

15.      What’s in your Water? Microscope Viewing: See some waterborne microbes up close, then play a quick game to see if you can judge if a germ is harmful by looks alone.

16.      Make a Fuzzy Waterborne Microbe: Use yarn to create a fuzzy microbe friend to take home.

17.      Water and Climate Change Activities: See how rising sea levels will impact the Boston area using Boston Water and Sewer’s interactive Inundation Map. Examine some of the water issues facing different cities around the world, as well as some possible solutions. Play a board game where player compete to have the country with the greatest reduction in Carbon emissions.

18.      Water Testing Sign Ups: Sign up here to take part in a series of water quality tests on a nearby stream. This experience lasts 30 – 40 minutes and takes place at 10:15am and 1:15pm.

19.      Allis Pump Basement Access: Stop here for access to the Allis Pumps in the basement. Visitors will be let down in groups of 15 at a time for 10-15 minutes of guided exploration time. Museum staff will present to answer any questions about this typically off-limits area!

20.      Water Conservation Games and Activities: Learn how much water goes into growing and producing some of the food we eat! Then, try your luck at our Conservation Hero board game, where you see how different choices can affect how much water someone might use in a day.

21.      Craft and Coloring Station: Make a Water System Map, Create your own Water Hero Shield, and color in fun water themed coloring pages
Event

Upcoming Events

Current Exhibit

Moving Water: From Ancient Innovations to Modern Challenges

Ancient civilizations engineered water systems that sustained communities for thousands of years. This exhibition spotlights six places that innovated ways to deliver, and control water for human use. It also looks at how climate change is impacting all of those places, forcing public officials to consider new ways to keep the water flowing.

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