Work has begun on the Cabrillo High School Aquarium's interactive tide pool.
The first phase is updating the filtration system, which cost $150,000.
In June, the aquarium received a grant from the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for $100,000.
Developers say the previous filtration system was 20 years old.
"This new filtration system uses about 20 percent of the electricity that our old filtration system used," says Chase Fichtner, Head Curator at the Aquarium, "it'll be more efficient so we use less water which helps us reduce costs and put more money towards things that the visitors want to see."
The project is currently $20,000 short of the $250,000 goal.
Anyone interested in donating to the program can mail checks to the Cabrillo High School Aquarium at 4350 Constellation Rd., Lompoc CA, 93436 or contact Aquarium Director Greg Eisen at eisen.greg@lusd.org.
The project is expected to be complete by March 2020.
