By SUNSHINE OSELLA
Features Editor
The College of Saint Rose prides itself on a long standing commitment to taking care of the environment. One of the newest projects already in use on campus and being expanded are the hydration stations.
Hydration stations are water fountains that have special dispensers on them to fill water bottles. The stations allow for people to fill up reusable bottles without them spilling over, the common complaint when using water fountains for the same function. When filling a water bottle at a typical fountain, it is often not possible to get the bottle all the way full and in the processing of trying water is wasted. At the new stations, this is not a problem.
“We have started to install these new hydration stations in various locations across campus in an effort to help people carry water with them in a more sustainable way,” said John Bryant, assistant vice president for facilities.
Bryant said that the stations are designed as a convenient source to refill water containers, thereby eliminating the need to purchase additional bottled water.
“We hope that the stations will negate the need for thousands of plastic water bottles, saving energy and petroleum based products used to manufacture them and avoiding the need to place empty bottles in the landfill,” said Bryant.
There are many common environmental concerns surrounding the use of bottled water. Plastic water bottles are commonly and primarily manufactured from polyethylene terephthalate resin, a material which is created from natural gas and petroleum. As such, it is also a material that requires a significant amount of energy to create. This material is recyclable and, because of the high percentage of polyethylene terephthalate within plastic bottles, is also one of the more efficiently recyclable products. Despite this, according to the Container Recycling Institute only 14 percent of water bottles in New York were recycled in 2006, compared to 70 percent for soft drink containers.
Several students cited a lack of awareness of the hydration stations. Deborah Olujimi, undergraduate class of 2014, said that she noticed the hydration station by the gym but has not used it, or any of the others, yet. Olujimi said that they are a good idea and if they were more visible around campus, she would use them.
Jennifer McCarthy, graduate class of 2011, said that she uses a water bottle everyday and if she knew the hydration stations were there, she would use them. Olujimi said that, for the new stations to be effective, they need to be advertised.
So far, hydration stations have been installed on the first floor of Lima, the library’s basement and first floor, all floors in Saint Joseph hall and near the entrance to the gym in the EAC. Olujimi said that the hydration stations would be good for when the Camelot Room is closed and a water bottle cannot be filled up there.
One special feature of some of the stations, such as the one located on the first floor of Saint Joseph hall, is a waste alleviation counter. The counters show how many additional water bottles have been avoided by people using the new fountains.
The installation of these fountains is spreading. Currently, there are already or are plans for installation of similar hydration stations at Siena and Union. Bryant said that Saint Rose plans to add more stations in the future in Lima, Science Center, Albertus, Lally, CCIM and other locations.
