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THE AQUATIC BIOSPHERE PROJECT IS REIMAGINING WHAT — AND WHERE — CANADA’S NEXT AQUARIUM MIGHT LOOK LIKE
BY TOM NDEKEZI
PHOTOS MAT SIMPSON
At first glance, Edmonton doesn’t seem like the obvious choice to build a state-of-the-art aquarium. A landlocked city thousands of kilometres from the nearest ocean, Edmonton wouldn’t appear to offer much when it comes to understanding the story of water.
Paula Polman, however, couldn’t disagree more, and with the help of the Aquatic Biosphere Project, she wants to make Edmonton the next national hub of aquatic and marine storytelling.
“We [Edmontonians] have one of the rare origin stories of water,” says Polman, who founded the Aquatic Biosphere Project in 2014 with the goal of promoting aquatic education and conservation. Having grown up in the marshy prairies of Manitoba, Polman understands the duality of living in a place that is at once almost entirely landlocked but also incredibly water-rich. In the case of Alberta, though, our uniqueness comes from the Columbia Icefield and the
glacial origins of much of the province’s water.
“We [here in Alberta] are the headwaters to many of the
freshwater feeds to the Arctic Ocean,” Polman says, speaking to Alberta’s critical place in the national — and possibly even global — water cycle.
“Right now, you go home and brush your teeth with water that’s 10,000 years old. You’re flushing the toilet with water that’s 10,000 years old. You’re cooking with it, you’re cleaning with it. That’s our water. Ancient glacial water.
“When those glaciers disappear, we will have to revert to seasonal water,” she adds, speaking to the looming water insecurity that has already started to affect communities in Southern Alberta.
And while Alberta’s special place in the story of water might be overlooked, according to Polman, it’s symptomatic of a wider issue when it comes to water education.
“We do a terrible job in this country talking about water and the importance of it,” Polman says. “Scientists do their academic work — which is fabulous — but it doesn’t connect with regular folks.”
20 LEGACY IN ACTION