Last year many of us were excited when SUNY Old Westbury installed water bottle filling stations all around campus. With two on the first floor of the New Academic building and one on each floor above, many were happy to stop paying for water out of school. They popped up in the Campus Center and Student Union buildings as if overnight, and we watched as the numbers on the little ‘how many bottles has this station saved’ counter climbed from zero to over four thousand on all the stations in a matter of months .
Lately, however, the filtration status lights on these stations have turned from an inviting green to a stationary red. As the weeks have gone by there has been no talk about changing these filters or checking that there is clean, drinkable water coming out of these machines.
New York may have the best drinking water, but seeing the quality of the filter status of these machines continue to drop is disheartening. Even though the water is likely still very safe, many may opt to buy water.
Hopefully Old Westbury replaces these filters before we return for the Spring Semester in January 2025.