Many of the water fountains around campus, including in the library, were taken down during the week of Sept. 15–19.
Associate Director of Facilities Operations Richard Barbera said the college decided to change its water fountains in Summer 2024 as a result of the poor customer service from the school’s previous water supplier, Sparkletts. According to Barbera, the new water fillers are from the company FLOWATER.
“[FLOWATER] had a rep reach out,” Barbera said. “They are represented on college campuses and they reached out to our department, with the promise of better-tasting water and less maintenance.”
According to Barbera, the college installed new water fillers in various areas around campus, including the Intercultural Community Center (ICC), Hameetman Career Center (HCC), the Moore Lab, Johnson Hall, Berkus Hall, Emmons and others.
According to Barbera, the installation process takes around three to six weeks because they need access to electric outlets as well as a drain to properly divert the water. The college had to install new outlets in Thorne Hall, the Oxy Arts kitchen, the Marketplace, and the first and third floors of the library, Barbera said.
Eduardo Rebollar (junior) said he did not notice the water fountains were gone until he saw the new ones.
“I knew the water quality in those [old] fountains wasn’t the best, so I was indifferent to them being removed,” Rebollar said.
Quinn Patwardhan (sophomore) said that he was worried the water fountains would never be replaced.
“I just noticed they took out the one on the first floor [of the library] I used pretty much every day, so I thought they were gonna be gone for good, but I’m glad they just replaced them,” Patwardhan said.
Barbera said facilities could have done a better job at informing students on the matter.
“When we are doing work, especially areas that are accessible by students, I think we could have done a better job by saying, ‘This is temporary and a solution is coming,’” Barbera said.
Rebollar said he thinks the water from the new fillers tastes better than the old ones.
“From what I’ve tasted so far, it does taste a little bit better, although I haven’t really thought too much about it,” Rebollar said. “But I feel like it’s a better addition, especially because of the hot water capabilities. […] Let’s say you have a snack here that requires hot water. You’re not forced to go to the [Marketplace] to fill up a cup of ramen, and you can have it here and use the machine here.”
Patwardhan said he likes that there are more fountains available.
“It’s good that there’s more of them, but I feel like some of them have a weird aftertaste,” Patwardhan said. “I kind of like the other ones better, but it’s cool I can do hot water.”
According to Barbera, the college will ask for feedback from the students as the new water fillers are used. He said facilities will ask for the students’ opinion at the end of the semester or the academic year.
Barbera said the ultimate interest of the college is increased sustainability — a goal that benefits from having many accessible water fillers around campus.
“We’re starting sustainability right here and then hoping that everyone understands this is what we want to do for the rest of campus: we want to make it sustainable,” Barbera said. “Along with a switch from Sparkletts for bad customer service, we thought that this was going to be a good push for sustainability, less wasteful water and we wanted to show everyone that yes, we’re doing it too.”
Contact Francine Ghazarian at ghazarian@oxy.edu
