Feb 09, 2010 - 04:30 AM

Mike Ruta

PORT PERRY -- Canada’s most valuable resource isn’t gold or diamonds but water. We have more of it than any other nation, so it makes sense that we have a special relationship with the wet stuff.

We All Live Downstream: The Story of Canada’s Water, created by the Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology, might make you appreciate it even more. The exhibit is at the Scugog Shores Heritage Centre and Archives from Feb. 4 to May 2. The show is described as an “entertaining, fun and kid-friendly interactive exhibit.”

“It’s definitely more of a scientific or sort of natural history-based exhibition focusing on water use and water conservation,” says curator Shannon Kelly.

The exhibit is in the form of a number of pods, each of which tells a different part of the story. For example, one explains how water is recycled in the natural world while a second details its use in creating energy.

“They have an old, 19th-century pump and some other artifacts from the Hamilton museum and a scale-model steam engine,” she says. “You can operate the model steam engine and you can use the pump to pump water. In addition, we’ll have a lot of different activities and crafts related to the exhibit for children to do.”

At the Feb. 13 grand opening, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Kawartha Conservation will have displays and will be doing several presentations, including talks on the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Lake Scugog environmental management plan. And, as a special bonus, Predator Productions will visit at 1 p.m. with some of the creatures that live in the water, reptiles and amphibians, in an interactive presentation.

“The kids will actually get to touch them,” Kelly says of the critters.

Admission is $7 for adults, $3 for children ages five to 12 years and free for members and children four and under.

The Heritage Centre is at 1655 Reach St., Port Perry, inside the Scugog Arena.