Photo illustration by Matt Weir / The Collegian
To encourage students to recycle, the University Student Union board of directors has installed two state of the art drinking fountains in the USU.
The new fountains offer filtered water and a special bottle refilling station that tracks the amount of water bottles saved by using it.
According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Americans purchase approximately 31 billion bottles of water each year.
Of those it is estimated only 10 percent are recycled each year with the majority ending up in a landfill.
Yesenia Carrillo, chair of the USU board said the water fountains in the USU needed replacing and the USU wanted to put in a fountain that was energy efficient and would help the environment.
The fountain made by Elkay is called the EZH20 washes the competition away. With a fill rate of up to 1.5 gallons per minute, it is three times faster than a standard drinking fountain.
Carrillo also said that because the other fountains were so old, they did not provide filtered water and the EZH20 filters the water, making it that much cleaner for students to drink.
“The previous water fountains were leaking and need replacing and we wanted to put something in that would serve the students,” Carrillo said. “The price of the new fountain is a little more than a regular fountain but it will save money in the long run.”
Carrillo said since the installation of the fountains in August, there has been nothing but positive feedback. “The students have said nothing but great things and ask if we are going to install more.”
Freshman Lauren Harper feels the water fountain is a great idea and uses it quite often.
“I’ve never seen a water fountain like this before and I think it’s great,” Harper said. “The refilling station is great too because it makes it so much easier to refill a bottle then having to lean my bottle over and wait as it slowly fills up.”
Because of the budget restraints Carrillo said she isn’t sure if similar fountains will be installed other places on campus.
“We will install the new fountains if an old one needs replacing,” Carrillo said. “There is one more fountain that needs replacing in the USU and we plan to install a new fountain next semester.”