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Eco-friendly hydration now on campus


David Henry refills his waterbottle in an effort to reduce waste.
Mason Mitchell / Mainstream
David Henry refills his waterbottle in an effort to reduce waste.

Students who are looking to quench their thirst, easily fill up their water bottle, or do their part in being eco-friendly should look no further. Two new water bottle refill stations have been installed on campus. The new fountains arrived earlier this month and are located in the library and in the PE complex.  These fountains allow students to save money and reduce waste.

“I love the fountains. This is most likely the best project we’ve done all year. We’ve done a lot of great things for this school but this one has a big impact on students,” ASUCC Student President Brenna Martin said.

The project, which was put into action by a team of students, was funded by ASUCC and the maintenance department.

“What I really like about this project is that it was all made possible by students. A student suggested the idea, another student wrote the proposal and a group of students, ASUCC student government, voted on the idea. And so many students love the fountains,” Martin said.

The process was started with students expressing a need for new and eco-friendly water bottle fountains early in the school year.

“We heard students talk about the need for water bottle fountains back in fall term. We had a suggestion in one of our suggestion boxes for the water bottle fountains. We posted the suggestion on Facebook and several students expressed interest in the idea,” Martin said.

Later in the year, a report was written by student, Will Otto, which was then used to make the next step in the acceptance process.

“We didn’t see an official proposal until the first week of spring term because we knew a WR 227 student was writing a recommendation report for the water bottle fountains. The recommendation report was the proposal that ASUCC student government voted on,” Martin said.

After a long awaited install, the fountains have made a positive impact on campus so far with students and athletes alike. Volleyball teammates Allahna Hartwick and Karyssa Gomez both share similar feelings about the new fountains.

 “I think that they’re really convenient, especially for athletes. You can just unscrew your water bottle top and set it on there to fill it up. It’s really quick and easy,” Hartwick said.

“They’re pretty cool and I wish we had more of them on campus because they’re energy efficient and easy to use,” Gomez said.

Both fountains each contain a counter informing the user of how many water bottles have been saved by the fountain so far.

“I like them, it’s a good idea and it helps reduce waste. I think it’s cool that students had a part in it,” student Ben Hernandez said.

As demonstrated with the new fountains, all students have the ability to improve their school by voicing their opinions in a variety of ways.

“If any student has an idea that they would like to see put into action at the school, they can post the idea on our Facebook page or they can leave a comment in one of our comment boxes in campus center. The water bottle fountains happened because it was a student’s idea. ASUCC Student Government loves to bring great ideas like that into action,” Martin said.