Global Water Center’s Mobile Discovery Center Visting Springfield

To increase awareness and encourage action to address the global water crisis, the Global Water Center (GWC) is touring the nation, showcasing its expansive, educational Mobile Discovery Center (MDC). Free-of-charge to the public, the exhibit is open from August 18-22 at Battlefield Mall, and is traveling to U.S. cities throughout 2021.

Lack of safe water is life-threatening and affects one-third of the world’s population – 2.2 billion people. Every 37 seconds a person dies from a preventable waterborne illness, totaling more than 2,300 per day, and 800,000 each year. The global water crisis is urgent and enormous, but solvable.

“We are fortunate to live in a nation where almost everyone has access to clean, safe water and it’s easy to lose sight of the perils faced by those in countries who don’t,” said Chris Holdorf, executive director of GWC. “Impacts from the lack of safe water have posed serious health hazards for one third of the world’s population for generations and something must be done to end the crisis.”

Spanning more than 25,000 square feet of exhibit space, the MDC’s experiential journey educates visitors about the world’s critical water issues and motivates guests to become advocates for safe water. This experience also tells the vibrant stories of water in our world, which are shown through highly visual mediums, including augmented reality, interactive content, and RFID technology.

Designed for audiences of all ages, the exhibit offers hands-on activities, including a water testing station and treatment system. Major themes within the experience include:

• Water Is Life explores the uniqueness of water on Earth through powerful visuals that demonstrate why it is essential to life. Highlights include an expansive motion-sensor wall with which visitors may engage to reveal natural environments and wildlife.
• Water and People reveals almost every aspect of life that is impacted by water. It details the advantages and opportunities of reliable access to abundant, safe water and the obstacles presented by water scarcity and/or unsafe water. It features the Water Challenge game to test visitors’ knowledge of safe water issues and provides other fun, educational interactive experiences.
• Safe Water for Everyone uses augmented reality to highlight how the best technologies and plans help secure sources of safe water. Highlighted by interactive digital touch tables, it showcases people that have risen from poverty to attain well-being when provided access to safe water.

Holdorf added, “The global water crisis is too complex to solve unless a consortium of organizations and individuals work together in development and execution of a unified, strategic plan. Without it, we face inconsistent water standards, lack of monitoring and accountability, and low public awareness. The Mobile Discovery Center ties it all together and shows how we can successfully tackle these issues.”

All Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 protocols will be observed at the exhibition. This will include measures to assure social distancing, sanitation of all surfaces and the recommendation of mask usage for visitors, among other custom enhancements within the exhibits.

About Global Water Center

The Global Water Center (GWC) is changing the world by convening safe water organizations, corporate partners, government agencies and millions of individuals to collaborate on ending the global water crisis. At present, 2.2 billion people worldwide lack access to safe water, a crisis that leads to waterborne illnesses which claim more than 800,000 lives each year. GWC’s objective is to marshal the collective resources of partner organizations to reduce the number of people without access to safe water to zero. For more information, visit globalwatercenter.org.

The Mobile Discovery Center is made possible through the generous support of our sponsors Kohler Co., Pace Analytical, and Rockstad Foundation.