OWU’s Hydration Station is a Big Hit
Easy, and good for the environment. (Photo by Rebekah Tompkins ’13)
They say every little bit helps, and the students at OWU are proving that statement every day.
A survey conducted last year discovered that most of the students on campus did not approve of the taste of Delaware tap water and found filling a water bottle out of a normal fountain cumbersome.
These results formed a partnership between OWU’s Energy Conservation and Sustainability Coordinator, Sean Kinghorn, and the Environment and Wildlife Club to fix the problems expressed and eliminate a large amount of plastic water bottles usage on campus. OWU is a big supporter of recycling, but nothing beats reuse.
The new hydration station was installed in the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center during the last week of spring semester this year. It is a water dispenser specifically designed to fill water bottles. The station measures the amount of filtered water dispensed and displays the number of bottles that have been saved from use. This helps students see how the number has grown each time they use it and enables them to see the actual difference they are making.
Within the short time it has been in use the hydration station has saved over 4,000 bottles, and students love it. Laura Robison, Class of 2015, highly approves of the new station.
“The new hydration station is so neat,” she said. “I was so excited when I first saw it. It’s so much nicer than trying to fill your bottle using a drinking fountain.”
Sarah Thomas, Class of 2015, echoed the praise.
“It’s awesome; I use it once a day,” she said. “My water bottle is too tall for a drinking fountain so now I do not make a mess. It is also convenient.”
It seems that something so simple as refilling a water bottle can make a difference in how we treat our world.