Downtown student government promises to install water filters on drinking fountains throughout the campus have been fulfilled following months of delays, after initial plans were made in late 2010.
The filters, designed to remove inorganic chemicals and chlorine content from drinking water, are located at the Mercado buildings, the second floor of the University Center and the first two floors of the Walter Cronkite School. More filters are to be installed in the rest of University Center and the first two floors of the College of Nursing and Health Innovation buildings.
The filters are intended to reduce student and faculty usage of bottled water by encouraging the use of refillable bottles, said former student government President Christian Vasquez.
“Having filtered water available on campus was the best option,” Vasquez said. “Not only does it promote students refilling their water bottles, but it also promotes students drinking a lot more water in general.”
Initial plans for a filtration system on campus originated with students from the School of Sustainability, who began seeking out water supply vendors over two years ago. Last year, student government began arranging a contract with the filter and bottling company Culligan.
“Most important, I think, was their concern over the large quantity of bottled water that was being delivered to the campus,” said Bill Hansen, a representative of Culligan who worked on the installation. “There’s a lot of water wasted in the production of bottled water, and then secondly, there’s a lot of fuel used in the delivery of it.”
The filters installed are Culligan’s Preferred Series 250, a cartridge system chosen for its enhancement of the taste of tap water without producing environmental waste.
The installations were initially slated for completion in the spring 2011 semester, but the project faced complications and delays. Delays emerged due to “miscommunications between the company and the folks that actually handle the building management,” said Vasquez, who continued to work on the project for several weeks after his graduation.
“We had to reevaluate which company we were going to go with and then which type of filtration we were going to do,” he said. “That took the better part of our spring semester.”
The current Downtown student government said it supports the project. President Joseph Grossman released a statement saying ASU is a leader in building sustainable communities.
“The filters further that commitment and will provide students with cleaner, better-tasting water and save them money, too,” he said.
Contact the reporter at bkutzler@asu.edu
