Brown goes green with a high-tech water fountain

Brown Hall hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 14 to celebrate the addition of a new water fountain. However, it’s not just your average water fountain. This water fountain is high-tech.

The Elkay EZH2O is an up-to-date bottle filling station that reduces dependency on plastic water bottle. According to its Web site, elkayusa.com, the EZH2O “Provides a rapid fill of filtered water to quench thirst and help minimize disposable plastic bottle waste in the environment.” Additionally, the EZH2O fill rate is three times faster than traditional drinking fountains and has an electronic sensor for touchless operation.

Investigation into installing the high-tech drinking fountain began in summer 2010 and the total cost of the project was approximately $800.

Lacey Neuman Bissonnette, director of Brown Hall, said that all Brown residents were invited to the ceremony and asked to arrive with water bottles in hand.
“I’m really excited for it,” Neuman Bissonnette said.

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Brown residents silently approached the filling station, watching in awe as the person in front of them tested out the EZH2O.
Sophomore Hannah Mohs said she is excited not to have warm water, and likes that it’s friendly to the environment.

“I do think it is cool how Concordia College has made this addition to spread awareness of going green through campus,” she said.

Mohs added that she likes the feature that tells you how many non-reusable bottles were saved by using the EZH20.

Junior Brennan Michaels stated that this was sort of the foot-in-the-door step for Concordia’s campus to go green.

“Brown Hall is starting to live by the motto ‘Going green with Brown,’” Michaels said.

According to Paul King, head plumber of the college, the EZH2O has been installed due to Concordia’s drive to be more eco-friendly.

“Facilities management is big on finding new ways to help the environment while providing benefits to the students,” King said.

Junior Skyler Vilt noted that when he visited Pacific Lutheran University, these water fountains everywhere.

“It’s just a great idea.” Vilt said.