First World Problems Are Still Problems

By: Louis Down

Source: Google

Hydrogen oxide, commonly known as water, is important for both life on Earth and all students that attend Simpson.

It’s no secret that a substantial portion of the Simpson population are athletes who require water to work at their optimal capacity. Which is why it is important that both Simpson athletes and students have easy and regular access to water.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee have reported that “Athletes who lose more than 2 percent of their body weight lose both their mental edge and their ability to perform optimally in hot weather.”

On Simpson campus there are fifteen drinking fountain stations (some stations have multiple fountains) distributed throughout the school. However, the issue at hand is that none of these filtered drinking stations are in the dormitories. Many athletes and students alike are made to get water from the unfiltered sinks in their room.

Ari Rubio from Simpson Women’s basketball team spoke with the Slate to voice her feelings, “at night when the buildings are locked, it can be difficult to access filtered water so it would help if we had some drinking stations in the dormitories.”

Installation of drinking stations and the stations themselves can be costly. Installing the Elkay drinking stations around the school may pose an issue, such as access to water, positioning in the dormitories and cost of installation. Potential solutions to this could be installing filtration systems on the already existing taps in the kitchen. The CDC reports that the United States has one of the safest water systems in the world. Though the water may be safe to drink this doesn’t mean it is clear of all contaminants. Another way to try and ensure the water being consumed by Simpson students is as clean as possible is by implementing water filter dispensers. These dispensers can be cheaper than installing permanent water stations, however, they would require the large water bottles to need constant replacing.

Paul Davis, Director of Campus Operations here at Simpson University explained that “drinking fountains hadn’t ever been considered in the dorms, but if they were to be considered we would most likely be the two-way filtration dispensers.” Davis went on to explain that “putting fountains into the dorms could be costly due to the plumbing that would be required and could cost upwards of $3000 per station.”

Although the issue of not having filtered water in the building you’re living in may seem like a ‘first world issue’ it is something that many campus residents would be grateful for and appreciate. Sufficient intake of quality water will help Simpson students to continue to excel in the classroom, in their chosen sport, and hopefully the residents can see water dispensers in the dormitories soon.