Water Works Environmental Education Center

Mission:

The Water Works Environmental Education Center (WWEEC) provides a tranquil place for reflection, a site for community activities, and a platform for experiential learning through informative exhibits, walking trails, natural habitat demonstration areas, special projects, and community interactions. The general theme of WWEEC is the conservation of clean freshwater at home, in the workplace, and as part of the local community by sharing knowledge about the historic Water Works facility, gardening practices derived from organic gardening, permaculture, and edible landscape concepts, and the use of native plants as alternatives to water and chemical-dependent exotic lawn grasses and horticultural plants. Habitat restorations on the property provide opportunities to demonstrate unique adaptations of plants and animals to water conservation and other physical and biological constraints presented by these unique North Florida habitats. The wetlands and upland natural habitats allow linkages to the St. Johns River and opportunities for interactions with the proposed environmental center in Palatka. The WWEEC supports the Putnam County and William Bartram trails network by acting as a trail hub, providing access to WW nature trails, identifying Bartram plants through appropriate signage, and displaying exhibits that describe William Bartram’s contribution to natural history exploration of the St. Johns River area.