Water Accessibility and Plastic Waste Creates Campus Distress
Staff and students discuss their concerns and ideas revolving around the water problem.
By Dominic Scheller
Staff and students discuss their concerns and ideas revolving around the water problem.
By Dominic Scheller
Water fountains are easily found across campus, however refillable water bottle stations are not, leading to significant plastic bottle waste.
To combat this, San José Unified School District installed water bottle filling stations on their campuses. Some, like at John Muir and Castillero Middle Schools and Leland High School are in areas where students can use them, Pioneer’s is locked up on the pool deck, inaccessible to most students.
“I definitely don't think it's accessible really at all. We did fight to get a refillable water station and we finally got one, but it is on the pool deck and the pool deck is locked up so it really doesn't even make sense to have one at this point,” said physical education teacher Julie Szarlacki.
Clean water and the accessibility of is a concern to staff and students. The taste and water pressure get brought up most often when referring to filling up water bottles at the fountain. Zaccheo said dehydration and not drinking enough water directly translates in the learning environment hindering students' capabilities.
Student Store bank clerk Rosi Corpuz, feels that good clean water is not accessible enough and due to that water has become the most bought beverage at the student store.
“No one uses the water fountains. I know there's one refill station and it's in the library in a locked room so getting that is difficult, but if we could get another accessible station that would be nice, but we need to do something about filtered water that would be great,” said Corpuz.
As of Oct. 16, the Student Store has sold 1,548 bottles of water, and almost as many bottles of Vitamin Water. Most of those will end up in garbage cans around campus, which are thrown away with the rest of the trash.
Biology and BioSITE teacher Rob Zaccheo feels that the plastic waste associated with the excessive water bottle purchases are a problem.
“The plastic issue is a huge thing. I always push people to bring a refillable water bottle because it saves plastic and it's also a lot healthier,” Zaccheo said.
Among the many opinions on the state of the water fountains on campus, the process of obtaining water is one of the reasons why students like Dominic Rodriguez, 11, bring a water bottle to school as opposed to using the water fountains.
“I would like to add water refilling stations because it is definitely hard to fill up your water bottle and you need to try to angle it to get all the water but at that point you could only get about half of your water bottle filled up,” said Rodriguez.
Math teacher Whitney Goodman brings her own water dispenser to her classroom to let her students fill up their reusable bottles. However, she proposed an idea to the Student Store to help the campus even more with plastic waste.
“They should have big jugs of water and the kids pay for the refilling of their bottle, rather than paying for the plastic bottles,” said Goodman.
Zaccheo would like to see another station, in a more accessible location, installed.
“(A refillable water station) would be worth the investment. I imagine it would be a structural issue because we would need to change all the pipes and such. I think it would be a great investment for the students and their health,” said Zaccheo.
To be able to install a refillable water bottle station, the request must go through the district for approval. San José Unified School District has six high schools in total, which are each required to have at least one refillable water bottle station.
“If they (install a refillable water bottle station) at one school they need to do it at all schools, so it's an equity issue and they did go through and put them in at all sites and that's where ours is currently. So we can certainly ask if these things can be updated but it needs to be processed district wise,” said Principal Brad Craycroft.
Zaccheo would like to see the district look into more filling stations.
“It's definitely something that we should have started for a while but these things take time and I think if we put some pressure on it we can make things happen,” said Zaccheo.
To combat this, San José Unified School District installed water bottle filling stations on their campuses. Some, like at John Muir and Castillero Middle Schools and Leland High School are in areas where students can use them, Pioneer’s is locked up on the pool deck, inaccessible to most students.
“I definitely don't think it's accessible really at all. We did fight to get a refillable water station and we finally got one, but it is on the pool deck and the pool deck is locked up so it really doesn't even make sense to have one at this point,” said physical education teacher Julie Szarlacki.
Clean water and the accessibility of is a concern to staff and students. The taste and water pressure get brought up most often when referring to filling up water bottles at the fountain. Zaccheo said dehydration and not drinking enough water directly translates in the learning environment hindering students' capabilities.
Student Store bank clerk Rosi Corpuz, feels that good clean water is not accessible enough and due to that water has become the most bought beverage at the student store.
“No one uses the water fountains. I know there's one refill station and it's in the library in a locked room so getting that is difficult, but if we could get another accessible station that would be nice, but we need to do something about filtered water that would be great,” said Corpuz.
As of Oct. 16, the Student Store has sold 1,548 bottles of water, and almost as many bottles of Vitamin Water. Most of those will end up in garbage cans around campus, which are thrown away with the rest of the trash.
Biology and BioSITE teacher Rob Zaccheo feels that the plastic waste associated with the excessive water bottle purchases are a problem.
“The plastic issue is a huge thing. I always push people to bring a refillable water bottle because it saves plastic and it's also a lot healthier,” Zaccheo said.
Among the many opinions on the state of the water fountains on campus, the process of obtaining water is one of the reasons why students like Dominic Rodriguez, 11, bring a water bottle to school as opposed to using the water fountains.
“I would like to add water refilling stations because it is definitely hard to fill up your water bottle and you need to try to angle it to get all the water but at that point you could only get about half of your water bottle filled up,” said Rodriguez.
Math teacher Whitney Goodman brings her own water dispenser to her classroom to let her students fill up their reusable bottles. However, she proposed an idea to the Student Store to help the campus even more with plastic waste.
“They should have big jugs of water and the kids pay for the refilling of their bottle, rather than paying for the plastic bottles,” said Goodman.
Zaccheo would like to see another station, in a more accessible location, installed.
“(A refillable water station) would be worth the investment. I imagine it would be a structural issue because we would need to change all the pipes and such. I think it would be a great investment for the students and their health,” said Zaccheo.
To be able to install a refillable water bottle station, the request must go through the district for approval. San José Unified School District has six high schools in total, which are each required to have at least one refillable water bottle station.
“If they (install a refillable water bottle station) at one school they need to do it at all schools, so it's an equity issue and they did go through and put them in at all sites and that's where ours is currently. So we can certainly ask if these things can be updated but it needs to be processed district wise,” said Principal Brad Craycroft.
Zaccheo would like to see the district look into more filling stations.
“It's definitely something that we should have started for a while but these things take time and I think if we put some pressure on it we can make things happen,” said Zaccheo.