Water Bubblers

By:

WATER BUBBLERS

CORE CURRICULUM CONNECTION:

NYS Living Environments Learning Standard 4: Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science. Key Idea 7: Human Decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment.

1. Project Goal: Install water bottle refilling stations at the current water bubblers at the Elementary, Middle, and High School. The purpose of this activity is to reduce the use of disposable water bottles and reinforce the use of reusable ones. Additionally, these stations will encourage students to consume more water which is proven to benefit overall wellness.
2. Who’s Involved: This event involved K-12^th grade students in fundraising.  These students have the water bubblers
   available to them throughout the school day.  The District Director of Facilities and GRS volunteers oversee and manage this
   activity.
3. Recording Documentation: This major project was documented in photos related to fundraising activities and during installation, and its impact will be measured by the counter included in the new filling station
   (equates water bottles refilled with plastic water bottles NOT used/added to post-consumer stream). In the short amount of time since the bubblers have been installed - over 15,000 water bottles have been filled meaning 15,000 plastic bottle have been diverted.
4. (Please note: Schuylerville GRS activities are also posted on the Schuylerville Green Ribbon School Project Facebook Page.)
5. Budget:  The budget for this activity is $3000 for the cost of three water bubblers, and will be partially paid for using a gift from a Schuylerville District parent in honor of her late husband who was a night custodian at the school. The gift
   will supplemented using the $906 raised at the Be Rich 5K! walk/jog in his honor. (Published Results for Health and Fitness.)
6. Dates:  Funds raised were raised October 2014-March 2015 and the of the Water Bubblers was completed in Spring 2015.
7. Results:  This project has been a tremendous success!!!  The students, faculty and staff love the stations and how easy they are to use.  Teachers are seeing an increase in water consumption and note that this helps the students be more alert and healthy.  The administration was so envious of the water bubblers that they have had an additional station installed in the Administration Building. 

Planning & Execution Checklist:

*  Work with your administration and facilities director to ensure project is feasible and to select most appropriate locations

*  Secure funding

*  Select and order the water bubblers

*  Install the stations

*  Educate faculty, staff & students about usage and benefits

*  Track the number of disposable water bottle diverted from land-fills and publish results