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Mayor Pete Saenz; City Council members Nelly Vielma, Charlie San Miguel, and Roberto Balli; and interim City manager Horacio de Leon conducted the official ribbon cutting for the City’s Water Museum on Tuesday, May 30.
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City Utilities administrative planner Adrian Gause and Tony Moreno of the Water Treatment Division.
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Members of the Martin High School Band conducted by director Robert Castro performed the National Anthem.
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Elsa Hull of the TCEQ and Tom Miller of the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center.
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Former Water Utilities director Tommy Rodriguez with Angel Leon, superintendent of the wastewater division; María Adriana Vela of the water pollution control division; and Margarita Vela of the billing division.
The modest, handsome exterior of the 11,000 square-foot building that houses the Laredo Water Museum belies its powerful function — to educate the public, especially children, about how water drawn from the Río Grande ends up in Laredo households and how water conservation and environmental stewardship are vital to the river’s ability to continue delivering water.
That educational mission is immediately evident upon entering the museum and coming face to face with a colorful marquee wall of bubbles filled with water factoids.
The experience of walking into the structure was an unexpected pleasure, a step into an atmosphere of brightness and clean, straight lines contrasted with an immersion into an area of 20 water-themed interactive displays that invite adherence to responsible practices to protect the only source of drinking water for millions of border residents in Texas and Mexico.
The $4.6M multi-purpose space features a small auditorium, a meeting area, administrative housing for the Water Utility Department, and a second-story conference room.
The learning area includes an Interactive Water Treatment Tunnel that tells the story of how river water is purified into potable water. The Río Grande History Wall tells the natural history of the river’s ecosystems.
Adjacent parkland and walking trails that drop to the Río Grande provide yet another classroom for teaching about the bio-diversity of the river ecosystem. The outdoor classroom includes an open area teaching rotunda and a low swale landscaped with native greens that filter runoff before it reaches the river.
The architectural firm that designed the museum was Metaform Studio. CORE Design Studio of Houston designed, produced, and fabricated the museum exhibits, signage, and environmental graphics.
Laredo is one of three cities in the state that has a water museum.
