Grand Rapids, MI
John Ball Zoo opened their newest exhibit, Americas: the North American River Otter. This much awaited expansion features four North American River Otters housed in the exhibit, with underwater viewing for guests enjoyment. The exhibit has two pools, a deep pool that holds 17,350-gallons of freshwater, built for the diving and hunting behaviors of the otters, and a 4,150-gallon shallow pool with an attached waterfall feature, for the otters play in.
Satchell Engineering & Associates designed the aquatic Life Support Systems for this exhibit. This exhibit contains three separate life support systems, one that filters the two main exhibit pools, one to filter a 400-gallon back of house holding pool, and one to filter the 500-gallon off-site holding pool. The three pools use a combination of equipment to create three filtration systems that consist of vertical sand filters and pumps, deaeration towers, ozone disinfections, off-gas destruct, UV sterilization, chlorinators, and heat exchangers. See Photo Gallery
