Who loves visiting with Jackson swimming in his pool, or playing tag with Molly in the otter habitat? Did you know that the water in both pools plays into the Akron Zoo’s water conservation plan?

At the Akron Zoo we set "big hairy audacious goals." One of those goals, set in 2009, was to reduce our water and sewer use by 50%. We let our staff get creative, and by 2015 we had reduced our water and sewer use by 80%!

An example of this water reduction is when Grizzly Ridge opened in 2013. The area uses a pool water reclamation system that allows 100% of water from the habitats, like the grizzly bears and otters, to be filtered and reused in these pools.

This is an amazing accomplishment that has saved tax payer money, reduced in-kind support from the City of Akron and improved the immediate neighborhood through storm water management measures that keep rain water on site and out of city sewers!

During this past year, your Akron Zoo and the City of Akron have continued to work together to install additional water meters on site, furthering our ability to conserve water while reducing our in-kind support for water and sewer from the City of Akron to zero by January 1, 2022.

We are proud of our commitment to water conservation and are always working to increase our efforts to save water and the world’s other precious resources.