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Elephants, Lions, and Kangaroos Walk on Water at the Cincinnati Zoo
Stormwater tanks under habitats help the Zoo save billions of gallons of water
Tomorrow is World Water Day, the perfect occasion to celebrate the many measures that Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is taking to use and reuse this precious resource in a sustainable manner on its campus and to support its availability for its conservation partners in Kenya.
“We’ve been at this for two decades now and have reduced water use dramatically,” said Cincinnati Zoo’s VP of facilities and sustainability, Mark Fisher. “The million-gallon capacity stormwater tanks buried under the five-acre elephant habitat that opened last year have taken us to the next level and helped us get closer to our goal to be net zero in water consumption!”
The Zoo has saved more than 2 billion gallons of water in the last twenty years by fixing leaks, monitoring water use, installing stormwater retention tanks around the Zoo, and growing food for the animals using hydroponic farming. These measures have helped the Zoo save millions of dollars on utility bills and have kept water out of the sewer system and neighbors’ basements.
“We’ve been updating controls and metering throughout the Zoo and moving toward building a ‘live picture’ of our utility use,” said Cincinnati Zoo’s net zero project manager Mallory Geresy. “These utility management efforts have prevented at least 100,000 gallons of water use.”
The same Zoo teams leading these water initiatives in Cincinnati is collaborati ng with the Zoo’s partners in the South Rift of Kenya, SORALO, on similar water management opportunities. They have advised on ways the SORALO team can increase the resiliency of a community water system, in the face of drought and other uncertainties.
“We are impacting water security on the community level through capacity building around water quality and listening to daily hardships of individuals to help motivate significant changes,” said Cincinnati Zoo’s aquatics manager Arianne Smith and member of a Zoo cohort that collaborated with partners on site in Kenya in 2024. “We’ve been given the opportunity to make a huge impact on water quality and water resiliency within the community in the SORALO landscape, while our team has also been inspired by different water management practices led by SORALO’s teams.”
Water covers two-thirds of the Earth’s surface, but only a tiny percentage of it is available as clean, fresh water. The Greenest Zoo in America® and its official water sustainability sponsor Roto-Rooter continue to seek new ways to use less of this natural resource.
The next time you visit the Zoo, take a moment to notice the pools, streams, and waterfalls in animal habitats and think about how you can reuse rainwater at home! Starting next week, you can bid on beautifully painted rain barrels that will be displayed at the Zoo. Money raised from the Rain Barrel Art Auction, now in its 13th year, goes towards environmental education at SaveLocalWaters.org and the Zoo.
The Zoo opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. Members get Early Entry and are welcome to enter the Zoo at 9 a.m. Become a member during the spring membership sale, happening now-April 30. Zoo Memberships, sponsored by Thomas & Galbraith, include unlimited visits and this year, the Zoo’s 150th anniversary, will be full of activities that will bring visitors back again and again.