I pay $30 a month at the gym, yet we pay $46 a unit at school aside from our ASO, health and parking fees. Pierce has a population of over 20 thousand students that should be utilizing the school’s drinking fountains.
Pierce has not yet updated these fountains to the healthier water filtration systems available in other schools, recreation centers and public establishments. It isn’t for a lack of systems available to the campus. A simple search via a site like Water Filter Way (https://waterfilterway.com/best-water-softener-reviews/) can easily show some of the best water filter systems including water softener systems.
Cal State University, Northridge has already made the switch to water filtrated fountains like Elkay. The school puts a sign above the fountains informing students that the drinking stations are funded by the campus quality fee.
A quick search of the Elkay brand drinking stations shows a range of pricing starting at around $700. Let’s say we have 20 stations at our school and we spend a thousand on each, that equals out to about $20,000 not including tax. With a student body of over 20 thousand students we can add a dollar to our ASO or health fee and fund a water system, similar to some of the systems found on this Best Water Softener System Reviews, and hopefully, it will bring positive change to the school.
The fountains at Pierce remind me of the ones I saw in elementary when I thought eating leaves was okay. At the college level we are more aware of our health and opt to make more health conscious decisions.
According to Authority Nutrition our bodies are made of 60% water and the common agreed amount of water the average person should be drinking is at least 8 ounce glasses daily. This differs by your weight and amount of physical activity you do daily.
Walking around across campus to classes throughout the day calls for a good source of hydration. Our water source has been neglected and it’s time we update them.
In 2009 the Associated Press did a nationwide investigation on the drinking water at schools proving 27 states had water contamination by lead and other toxic substances according to National Geographic.
Knowing our water is filtered will encourage students to use the stations more often and buy less bottles of water. Bottles that get thrown in the trash and create waste in the environment because the only recycling bins at our school are in the cafeteria. Most of the bottles are thrown to the trash.
Sometimes students will wait to drink water at home or elsewhere trying to avoid spending money and that’s just dehydration waiting to happen. Sometimes we aren’t carrying cash or the vending machine is broken and we don’t drink the fountains because most of us don’t trust them.
The newer water stations have bottle filling and display the number of bottles saved to date. They filter the water and display the filtered status of the water. It’s much more attractive to drink from when you are aware of the good you are doing for yourself and the environment.
Just like the food we are putting in our bodies, we want to be comfortable with the water we are drinking as well.
