Newstrack: Mount Mercy still sells bottled water

Background

In 2012, a sustainability task force at Mount Mercy University set a goal of eliminating the sale of bottled water on campus by 2013.

The campus also installed four water refilling stations to track the number of plastic bottles saved, and received a grant from the Sisters of Mercy to cover the cost of retrofitting existing water fountains with a spigot. Barb Pooley, vice president for finance and business operations, told The Gazette that environmental awareness is an important issue for the Sisters of Mercy, the founding order of the university.

What's Happened Since

According to assistant provost Colette Atkins, the university's goal 'went through many iterations, changes and discussions.'

'We determined that our ultimate goal was to remove plastic bottles, as many as we can, from the environment,' Atkins said. 'Through more engagement, we discovered removing the sale completely wasn't going to help us meet our goal in the end.'

Atkins said there was some pushback from people who said if they did not have access to bottled water, they did not want to be forced to have to buy some other kind of drink. The university still sells bottled water, but Atkins said sales are lower.

University officials began distributing water bottles to all students at orientation, along with pamphlets that talk about sustainability and environmental issues.

Officials also installed more refilling stations and gooseneck water fountains throughout campus.

'This entire process from the very beginning has been wholly supported by Sisters of Mercy,' Atkins said. 'They helped fund some of these projects. Access to clean drinking water is one of their chief concerns.'

Statistics gathered by Dennis Gehring, assistant director of facilities, show that as of January, 202,163 water bottles had been saved because of the refilling stations. That is the equivalent of 5,632 pounds of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Lids for those bottles would add another 1,109 pounds, for a total of 6,741 pounds.

'In a short time, we've saved over three tons worth of water bottles,' Atkins said. 'That's incredible.'