Campus water fountains revisited…

In my Urban Planning class yesterday, we discussed Urban and Water Governance. It seems that water is permeating many disciplines these days as we are starting to understand that it is going to be the most important natural resource of the century. In our seminar, we discussed and debated several issues that surround water governance and privatization. Amid our discussion, we started to have a conversation about water fountains on our very own campus. How this relates to water governance is something that we collectively discovered. In short, if we had more water fountains on campus, the university would be more involved with the administration and operation of water supply. They would have to regularly check the fountains to ensure they are working and any leaks or dysfunction with the pipes, would result in the university paying a lot of money to fix it. So instead of going through this expensive process the university can delegate to the campus food service provider, who can then supply bottled water. Cheaper for the school, more expensive for the students.

Water fountains are not abundant on campus, in fact, all of the Ron Thom buildings including Champlain College, Lady Eaton College and the Bata Library really lack water fountains. One student, who has studied Trent’s architectural history in great detail, reported that when the buildings were being designed, they did not plan for water fountains.

Alas, 40 years down the road we’re starting to feel the effects. We are also drinking a lot more water these days. Some facts, courtesy of David Zetland’s aguanomics have reported that lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen.

These are just some of the facts and compelling reasons why we need to keep hydrated all day long. Sadly, when water fountains are scarce we are obliged to buy bottled water at a cost of $2-5 which is totally ludicrous. Other students in my class reported that some of the taps in the library have little signs posted on top of them that read “please let water run for 30 seconds before drinking”. That is certainly frightening and provides no real encouragement to drink Peterborough’s ostensibly clean and safe drinking water.

Key message: We need to keep hydrated especially when we are busy studying and working away with rigourous and at times arduous tasks. Our minds need to be freshened from time and time again; water fountains can serve our needs and save us money. Many students these days are carrying their canteens (not many use Nalgenes anymore because of Bisphenol A) and are trying to refill them. If not water fountains (because they are an expensive infrastructural investment), let’s at least consider water coolers.