Water bottle fountains could help keep students hydrated
A water bottle fountain at Planet Fitness that would look like the one’s we would put into Lincoln High. Photo by Porshe Miller.
By Porshe Miller
During passing period as students maany are worried about getting to our classes on time and using the bathroom, filling our water bottles up, and walking across the school in those short six minutes. Wondering how teachers expect us to accomplish this when there is so much to do in such little time. Arriving to class and asking to use the bathroom right away, we genuinely need to go.
Teachers say that there is many ways you can increase your time walking during passing period by not talking with friends or walking slowly. But, many people want to fill their water bottles up and now there could be a way to speed that up.
There is a possibility of implementing new water bottle fountains at Lincoln High that fill your water bottles up in a matter of seconds and will help reduce time by quick fill ups. This idea was suggested by Justin Holbein who brought this idea up a town hall meeting.
“Daily, I watched students throw plastic water bottles in the trash instead of recycling them and observed students struggling to fill their own personal bottles or containers from drinking fountains and sinks in the bathrooms. I then had the opportunity to visit some high schools, middle schools and elementary schools and noticed they all had water bottle filling stations installed in various areas.” Holbein added.
Holbein said that he began to wonder why Lincoln High didn’t have these fountains yet and decided to attend a town hall meeting. Other schools had began to install these fountains into their schools and he wanted to advocate for a lead into which these could be put into Lincoln High.
“The gist of it is that we would replace the old, outdated water fountains that we currently have at LHS with newer models. These models would be similar to the ones found at the other high schools in Lincoln, and would have water bottle filling stations.” Eric Lesik a junior at Lincoln High who has been working with idea stated.
These water bottle filling stations would make it a lot easier to go throughout the day and carry a water bottle with you at all times. Not only would it benefit students because it would reduce fatigue during the school day caused by dehydration and would also limit the amount of students in the hallway to get a drink.
A big influence in this project is cutting down the waste of using plastic water bottles. Waste buildup would go down throughout the school and create a more green community. This has already started with the help of introducing more recycling bins throughout the school and having a new way of disposing trash at lunch.
These fountains will help students to get to class on time and to make sure that there is not a large waste of water that happens when many students fill their water bottles up. This is because the older fountains are outdated and don’t provide a good way to get water.
Knowing ways to help the recycling efforts is good but there has to be a way to afford it. With the new fountains they require a lot of money to make it become a reality. A single fountain would cost $1500 and the goal would be to replace most of the water bottle fountains currently in Lincoln High.
Throughout this year and the beginning of the coming school year student council will be holding fundraisers to help speed this process up. This idea may not be coming in the near future but will approach sooner than later. With the help of all students these can be put in sooner and create a greener environment.