Water refills reduce waste

Continuing UCF's ongoing quest of going green on campus, water bottle refill stations have been installed on all water fountains in the Student Union.

"It's cold, it's fresh and you're not buying another piece of plastic," said Adam Giery, marketing and sustainability coordinator for the Student Union.

This initiative is a step in UCF's effort to reduce all waste produced. 

The refill stations should reduce the number of bottles discarded by motivating students to reuse them in a clean and efficient manner, Giery said.

Two more of the bottle refill stations have been ordered to be installed at Brooklyn Pizza and the auditorium in Ferrell Commons.

The refill station is a T&S Brass and Bronze Works, Inc. model "designed especially for mounting on electric water coolers," according to the company's Web site.  Underneath the tap is a lever.  Much like chilled water from a refrigerator, students simply push the lever with a bottle and cold water comes out.

In addition to the user-friendliness of the mounted refill stations, filtration systems have also been installed to assure the purity of the water.

"We wanted to make sure we provided a quality product to students," Giery said.

High-quality H20 is something John Ellis, a junior health sciences major,  appreciates.
Ellis put down all of his bags to fill up three empty Zephyrhills water bottles.

"I drink at least half a dozen of these a day," Ellis said.

Ellis said he's been using the stations since he noticed them during the second week of the semester.  He said the ease and availability are great because it's cheaper and easier than looking for a vending machine.  With an educational focus on athletic training, he wanted to express the importance of drinking water.

"Water is essential to life," Ellis said.  "If you don't hydrate, you're going to die."

Giery said the idea was Suzy Halpin's, director of the Student Union.  He said Halpin returned from a conference of the Association of College Unions International and told him to make it happen.

Giery, along with Rick Falco, Student Union associate director, and Gary Campbell, Student Union maintenance superintendent, began researching the product. 

They chose the fitting they thought would work best and installed a test station on the third floor of the Student Union in late July.

An unofficial survey of orientation students, summer B students, SGA representatives, Student Union employees and visitors showed the refill stations to be a big hit, Giery said. 

An additional six stations were installed during the second week of August, Giery said.

Falco and Campbell both said, since installation, the stations have been used constantly.  Campbell added that they got quite a bit of use on gameday.

The stations themselves cost $72.99 per unit.  With the additional cost of the $36.80 water filtration systems, the total cost per station is about $110, which was paid for with SGA funds. 

Depending on frequency of use, the filters should last up to four months.

Campbell said they chose these filters because of the built-in water purity precautions. 

When the filter is completely used up, it restricts the flow of water, indicating necessary replacement.

In order to keep the quality of water high, Giery said the filters will be regularly switched out.  One year's worth of filters has already been purchased.