Miyagase Dam Water and Energy Museum Water Museum "Waterworks Zone"

The Miyagase Dam Water and Energy Hall Water Museum's "Waterworks Zone" needed renovation after more than 20 years since its opening, and was renovated to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the museum's opening.

The concept of displays is to create learning opportunities for the "tap water supply business" (introducing the role of the Waterworks Corporation) and to change people's awareness of "tap water" (a renewed awareness of water resources and learning about the global environment). By learning about the process, facilities, and work involved in turning rainwater stored in dams into tap water and delivering it to household faucets, which is something that we don't usually have the opportunity to learn about, visitors can learn about the importance of social infrastructure and gratitude for tap water, which is essential to life.

Additionally, since the surrounding area, including Miyagase Dam, is a tourist destination, the main targets are social studies field trips from nearby elementary schools and families visiting on weekends.

The exhibition features a wide range of digital content, including guidance videos on a large screen, virtual content in which a drone is operated to investigate water facilities, and a simulation of the process of purifying river water. The exhibition also features highly game-like digital content that combines real-life action and computer graphics, as well as displays that allows visitors to virtually experience the work of the corporations that support the water supply business. The exhibition offers a variety of content that can be enjoyed in a short amount of time by visitors with or without a specific purpose.

The client's top priority was to raise awareness of the invisible "social infrastructure" that is the tap water supply business.
We needed to find a way to convey that behind the "ordinary everyday" of turning on a tap, there is the journey of water from Miyagase Dam to our homes, and the presence of the facilities and specialists who supply safe, clean water 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition, because the Corporation is contracted to carry out the "wholesale water" business (taking in water, purifying it, and supplying it to the prefecture and city), which is not well known to the public, making the role of the Corporation clear was also an issue.

Another objective was to provide an opportunity for the students to think about the relationship between the global environment, water resources, and daily life by explaining that water utilization projects utilize part of the global water cycle, while also introducing the abundant water situation in Kanagawa Prefecture.

The solution to the former issue was to visualize the invisible facilities (buried underground) and the work of waterworks specialists (whose work is unclear). Considering the characteristics of the main target audience, we adopted many entertaining methods.

1. In "Water's Journey," the large screen and the Kanagawa Prefecture map screen were linked together in a dramatic way to show the specific locations and routes (both above and below ground) that the water stored in Miyagase Dam takes from the construction stage to its supply to homes.
In addition, the virtual drone exploration mode allows users to experience the inside of buildings and facilities that are normally not visible, as well as safety measures in place, through 360-degree video.

2. "Delivering Clean Water" turns the main mechanism of a septic tank into a game, and introduces the mechanism of the water purification flow through the process of restoring the tank to normal after an accident.

3. In the "Seeing a Waterworks Worker at Work" event, we tried to foster a sense of familiarity by allowing visitors to experience practical aspects of the work, such as water quality testing (displays microorganisms), on-site monitoring systems, and operating actual valves.

The latter solution was mainly to devise the ending of the "Journey of Water." The water evaporates from the "sea," the final destination of water use, turns into "clouds," and then returns to the dam as "rain," creating an impressive water cycle using lighting. In addition, by depicting the history of the development of the water sources for the two rivers and four dams that are the result of Kanagawa Prefecture's geographical features, we were able to convey the important role they play in ensuring a stable supply of tap water.