Ft Collins Museum Exhibits Applic

• Project Type: Ag/Muni Grant
• Applicant: City of Fort Collins
• Project Name: Water Education Exhibits at the Discovery Center Science Museum
• Title: Water Education Exhibits at the Discovery Center Science Museum
• Date: 11/29/1996
• County: Larimer
• Water Conservation - Doc Type: Application

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Projected budget for 1,000 square feet of exhibits:
Design exhibits $ 10,000
Remodel exhibit area 10,000 '
Construct exhibits 80,000
TOT AL $100.000

Funding
The Water Utilities, Discovery Center and other focus group members are seeking funds
from several sources, including grants and donations from businesses and organizations.
The Water Utilities is requesting a $5,000 grant from the Colorado Water Conservation
Board toward this cooperative project. The Water Utilities has already committed
$20,000 in 1997 funds and has applied for another $10,000 grant. This money will be
effectively leveraged to complete the funding of this project.

Projected funding for 2,000 square feet of exhibits:
Water Utilities $ 20,000
Donations and grants 55,000
CWCB grant 5,000
V olunteer labor 20,000
TOTAL $100.000

2. EVALUATION
A public water education program such as this is designed to elevate awareness of water as a
valuable resource. Attitudinal change is often difficult to measure, but a positive experience
with interactive water exhibits can help change people's water use habits.

3. RESEARCH/RESOURCES
Fort Collins Children's Water Festival
The past five years, the Water Utilities has sponsored a successful one-day water festival
for fourth graders. The festival includes hands-on exhibits and classroom presentations.
Surveys done at other water festivals show water use habits do change as an outcome of
this type of learning. The idea at the Discovery Center is to offer a similar experience to
people of all ages as permanent exhibits that can be visited many times.

Discovery Center Science Museum
As mentioned previously, the Discovery Center is a popular venue in the Fort Collins
region for a fun time, while learning science concepts. We looked most closely at the
electricity room, as developing the new water exhibits will follow a similar process.

Children's Museum of Denver's We All Live Downstream exhibit
We visited this exhibit to see how some water concepts were demonstrated. One element
missing at this exhibit was real water. We would like to find a way to have people feel
and hear running water.