NEWS EDITOR – ASHTON JEFFERS
Whether going to and from class or coming to find a study space, students utilize some aspects of the St. Mary’s campus facilities. Facility Services is able to keep these spaces clean and functioning properly, ready for students and staff to use during their busy day. One priority is convenience, which can be great for those who bring refillable bottles or use the vending machines if they happened to forget something when heading to class. Facility Services are also important to the health of the campus, ensuring nothing harmful affects those on campus. Another essential part of that is being able to use bathrooms and water fountains in classrooms and other study spaces, meeting the needs of students, faculty, and staff.
Since coming back to campus for the fall, some students at St. Mary’s have taken up more sustainable alternatives to using water, especially to fight off the Texas summer heat. However, students have noticed a greater struggle to find water fountains on campus whose filters have been changed on-time. The water refilling stations around campus can be found in various spaces on campus. These include student residence halls, the Blume Library, administration buildings, as well as classrooms. All of this creates the opportunity to refill water bottles efficiently while being available for students and faculty around campus as they go about their day.
While this can be seen as a way students can save money and time, some returning students have noticed that filters for the refilling stations have not been changed since the Spring semester of this year. “The water issues do make living harder for students, especially those who live in the dorms and use showers and water to brush their teeth,” said Megan Insall, sophomore criminology major and resident of Treadaway Hall. Insall reported that they had noticed the water form the tap in their dorm had a slight color to it. “Just imagine how we have particles in the water that can easily make any of us sick without knowing the cause, which can be prevented by making sure the water is clean,” she added.
It also brings into question how these issues of water will be dealt with. Students can use the vending machines around campus or other dining options that students and staff use throughout the day such as the Diamondback Cafe or Chick-Fil-A. One way that students can find affordable options for clean water is through the spaces in the Commons, which has a Starbucks that offers free water to students who might have forgotten to bring water to class or to study rooms. Not all is lost for those who use the water bottle-filling stations which are displaying red lights. According to ELkay’s website, the red lights on the bottle filling stations are meant to indicate that the filters prevent contaminants, like lead, from getting into the water. The red light indicates that bottle filling stations are being used often, which can lead to more sediments being stored.
Students and staff could benefit from having more communication from facilities by learning how these filling stations operate and perhaps, more communication from students when red lights are noticed.
Having inexpensive, convenient, and sustainable options on campus is something that St. Mary’s is working towards. These options are valued by students, especially in the residence halls and classrooms, where the campus collective is taking necessary steps toward environmental and economic consciousness. However, the issues of water on campus still continue to fluctuate. It is important to keep in mind that Facility-related work orders do take time to address and fix, which may at times rely on student action. For those who experience issues with water in residence halls, students are encouraged to submit maintenance work order requests directly using the form on Gateway. If the problem persists, residents should contact their Resident Assistants to follow up on the issue. Though the process does take some time, students can be assured that there are methods in place to solve these concerns, despite current delays.