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MSU replacing drinking fountains for better access to filtered water

September 19, 2016
Human biology junior Nina Rackerby fills her water bottle at a drinking fountain in the Union. Rackerby said she had used fountains like this one on campus before.
Human biology junior Nina Rackerby fills her water bottle at a drinking fountain in the Union. Rackerby said she had used fountains like this one on campus before. —
Photo by Emilia McConnell | The State News

The project is a result of continued student concerns about the taste and color of their drinking water, despite the safety of MSU tap water, project coordinator Sean Barton said.

“It’s not that the discolored water wasn’t safe at all, it just wasn’t as pleasant as it could be,” Barton said.

Barton, in conjunction with a fisheries and wildlife class, conducted a survey of approximately 1,260 MSU students and faculty and discovered that 61 percent of those surveyed did not know about or did not use the filtered water stations on campus.

“We saw that as an opportunity,” Barton said.

Even students who use the drinking fountains regularly said they won’t drink the water from just anywhere on campus.

“Some of the older buildings I don’t use,” journalism sophomore Emily Lovasz said. “People have told me the water is really weird. I’ve never tried it because I’m too scared to.”

Neuroscience junior Alaijah Bashi said she likes the convenience of the water bottle fillers, but she doesn’t drink from many of MSU’s drinking fountains.

“I don’t drink at the ones where the water just tastes like metal,” Bashi said. “It tastes like you’re drinking blood.”

Inconsistent water taste at fountains around campus can drive students to skip reusable water bottles in favor of disposable plastic water bottles, and only about 25 percent of those get recycled, Barton said.


“MSU pays per pound for the landfill — we get paid per pound for recycling, typically," he said. "In my book, that’s a no-brainer. Also, you’re diverting from the landfill and making that plastic live another life, which keeps the Earth greener for the next generation.”

Barton is working to find a way to make members of the MSU community more aware of the new filtered drinking fountains and water bottle fillers around campus.

Barton partnered with Jade Freeman from Geographic Information Services to create the Water Bottle Filling Stations website, an interactive map with pictures and a description of all of MSU’s filtered drinking fountains. Barton and Infrastructure Planning and Facilities, IPF, plan to push publicity for the tool later this semester.

Barton, who headed an initiative to document all of MSU’s drinking fountains, said there are currently 768 drinking fountains on campus, and 128 of those are filtered. Since IPF began replacing unfiltered drinking fountains this summer, “the filtered water number has gone up quite a lot,” Barton said.

As for when the project will end, Barton isn’t quite sure. Though IPF is only replacing the 33 drinking fountains that have been identified as being most impactful for the MSU community for now, Barton said they hope to keep working as long as they have funding.

“They’re going to be replacing a lot of these,” Barton said.

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