Fish need water just as humans need air. Water carries life-giving oxygen to fish and aquatic invertebrates, and disperses wastes such as carbon dioxide, urine and feces.

The Aquarium gets its fresh water from the City of Vancouver water system and its salt water from the ocean. Salt water is pumped up to the Aquarium from 14 metres below the surface of Burrard Inlet. The salt water is filtered and cleaned twice — once when it arrives and once when it leaves the Aquarium, before it is returned by pipe to the Inlet.

The salt water used in the Arctic Gallery is cooled by chillers. The heat generated by the working chillers is piped to the Amazon Gallery. Water used in the tropical galleries is warmed by heaters.

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