Reduce and Reuse:

One UA Water Bottle Refill Station at a Time

January 2017
 Proposal Overview
A. Abstract
The successful installation of multiple water bottle refill stations on the UA campus has
effectively reduced the consumption of plastic water bottles. We hope to continue the success of
these prior installations through the addition of two water bottle refill stations in high-traffic
areas of campus. An increase in water bottle refill stations on campus will directly decrease the
need for single use water bottles and increase usage of re-fillable water bottles on campus. The
type of station to be installed automatically calculates the number of single use bottles replaced,
facilitating keeping of data and measurement of impacts over time. Statistically significant
surveys have shown that the majority of students on campus prefer the use of re-fillable water
bottles yet often do not have near enough access to them. This campaign coordinates well with
an ongoing Students for Sustainability (SFS) project distributing free reusable water bottles and
contributes to the growth of a zero waste culture at the UA. Facilities Management (FM) will
install a water bottle refill station inside the Slot Canyon Cafe of the ENR2 Building and one on
a different building floor. The building manager of ENR2, Maggie Heard, and the departments
located in the ENR2 building, support this proposal. The requested funding will cover the cost of
the unit, installation, and operations costs of the water bottle refill stations.

B. Project Narrative
This project is a collaboration between the SFS HydroCats Committee, UA Institute of the
Environment, and Facilities Management to install two modern water bottle refill stations in the
Environmental and Natural Resources 2 Building (ENR2). The SFS HydroCats Committee
proposed the idea to Maggie Heard in October 2016, who confirmed her support along with the
support of all building departments on October 25th. SFS will continue our excellent working
relationship with Facilities Management to orchestrate the installation process.
The purpose of “Reduce and Reuse: One Water Bottle Refill Station at a Time” is to directly and
measurably decrease the consumption of plastic water bottles on the University of Arizona
campus. Sustainability is largely a function of aggregate behavior. The installation of additional
water bottle refill stations on campus provides visual and experiential cues to change students’
behavior.

Water bottle refill stations benefit the environmental sustainability of the University of Arizona
in three ways:
1) Engaging Students’ Minds: The Elkay bottle refill stations directly display an
automated count of 16.9 fl oz, single use plastic water bottles replaced by bottle refills.
This visual cue engages students consciously or subconsciously to think about
conservation and waste reduction, especially as the count rises. Over the long period of
time that refill stations will serve the UA Campus, these stations will be an important part
of an omnipresent culture of zero waste. The long-term goal is for every UA student to
think about sustainability on a daily basis.
2) Changing Behavior: The bottle refill station incentivizes the use of refillable water
bottles by providing convenient locations to quickly refill bottles with cold, filtered
water.
3) Direct Conservation: The Elkay bottle refill stations directly reduce consumption of
plastic water bottles.

The processes of our project are very straightforward. Once the grant money is awarded, the
administrative co-leader and the SFS HydroCats Committee will coordinate with Facilities
Management to place an order for the Elkay EZH2O bottle refill stations. SFS will carefully
coordinate operations to ensure that once the refill stations are delivered, installation can begin
immediately.

After installation, the SFS Water Committee will undertake promotional activities, including
posting flyers on UA bulletin boards and distributing free reusable water bottles previously
purchased with help from a previous Green Fund Grant (GFMG 15.22).
The desired impact of this project is to contribute to waste reduction and a zero waste culture at
the UA by eliminating many single use plastic water bottles. Water bottle refill stations are
highly effective in eliminating waste because they are convenient and easy to use. Another goal
of this project is to encourage students to be involved and actively reduce their own footprints.
Students will be able to take easy, individual actions that reduce both their personal
environmental footprints and that of the university.

C. Project Members List

Project Manager: Chester Phillips, ASUA Sustainability Coordinator
Business Manager: Estella Trevers, Business Manager, ASUA
Students for Sustainability Co-Directors
Stephanie Choi, Students for Sustainability Co-Director
Trevor Ledbetter, Students for Sustainability Co-Director
Cole Pihl, Students for Sustainability Co-Director
Students for Sustainability Hydrocats Committee
Dien Truong, Committee Chair
Keegan Franklin, Committee Member
Tina Johnson, Committee Member
Elspeth Edgar, Committee Member
Rebecca Van Rhee, Committee Member
Jesse Hansen, Committee Member
Anuja Oke, Committee Member
UA Institute of Environment
Maggie Heard, Building Manager, ENR2
UA Facilities Management
Chris Kopach, Assistant Vice President
Associated Students of the University of Arizona (ASUA)
Tatum Hammond, Administrative Vice President
Claudia Davila, ASUA Assistant Program Director
 D. UA Student Benefits
The installation of an additional water bottle refill station on campus provides a direct service to
students, as well as serves an educational purpose. The collective campus community, in
observing and using the bottle refill stations, will be reminded of the wastefulness of plastic
bottle consumption and will be encouraged to change consumption habits.

Student Engagement
Administrative Co-leader:

Dien Truong will assume the role of Administrative Co-leader. There is a great need for a large
scale survey in order to gather data about refillable water bottle and refill station usage at the
University of Arizona. Dien will create a survey by working with the Assessment and Research
division of Student Affairs. As administrative co-leader, he will also be in charge of deciding
how “Reduce and Reuse, One UA Water bottle refill Station at a Time” will move forward,
determine the project leadership positions, and work with administrators, faculty, staff and other
students to complete this project. Total: 1 undergraduate student

Coordinator:

Anuja Oke, a member of the SFS Water Committee, will perform weekly checks on the two new
bottle refill stations in order to record the number of bottles saved. During this time, she will also
make observations on how often the station is being used within an hour while surveying the
people that are using them. Total: 1 undergraduate student

Student Volunteers:

A member of the SFS HydroCats Committee will provide reusable bottles for students free of
charge within the first few weeks of installation. The SFS HydroCats Committee will promote
and market the new bottle refill stations at forums including the UA Farmers’ Markets, taking
advantage of the very high turnout the markets attract. They will also document feedback from
users. Total: 40 undergraduate students; 1 graduate student

Experiential Learners:

Through consistent presence of refill stations across campus, an immeasurable number of

students will interact with the stations in the long-term. With the help of the Student Affairs
division of Assessment and Research, a survey will be distributed to determine how this project
has impacted students and assess their motivation to use refillable bottles around campus.
Because of the high foot traffic inside and outside ENR2, we expect a water bottle refill station
there to be very popular. Total: 10,000 undergraduate students; 4000 graduate students

E. Project Timeline
The administrative co-leader, Dien, has attempted to speak with UA Facilities Management
about the high cost ($2700 per unit) they quoted for installation. While he has not yet received a
reply on the specific details from FM, he will seek the help of the ASUA Sustainability
Coordinator in negotiating a lower installation cost with FM. Any savings can either be returned
to the Green Fund Committee or used for an educational campaign encouraging refillable water
bottle use.
Once the Green Fund grant disburses (est. August 2017), the working committee will manage the
purchase, delivery, and installation of the refill stations, to be completed by the end of Fall 2017
semester at the latest. After the refill station is installed and operational, the SFS HydroCats
Committee will begin to collect quantitative data on a bi-weekly basis by recording the amount
of plastic bottles eliminated. Metric collection will continue for the entire semester and for years
to come. This data will measure the success of the project, and support arguments for or against
additional refill stations around campus.

F. Marketing
The SFS HydroCats Committee will recognize the UA Green Fund for supporting this project
financially by placing signs with the UA Green Fund’s logo on the water bottle refill stations,
providing a long term, visible acknowledgement of the Green Fund’s contribution. We will also
acknowledge the UA Green Fund by using our various social media platforms (Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter) to promote the use of the refill stations. This will further increase the
presence and awareness of the UA Green Fund’s sustainable projects around campus.
The SFS HydroCats Committee will also create flyers promoting the installation of the new
stations, which will include the Green Fund’s logo. The flyers will advertise refillable water
bottle distribution dates. Student volunteers will actively promote the stations within the first few
weeks of installation by distributing reusable bottles that contain the UA Green Fund Logo on
the side.

Proposal Metrics

A. Desired Impacts:
Short-Term Campus Benefits

The addition of the water bottle refill stations will improve student access to filtered water by
replacing older water fountains. The increased prevalence of bottle refill stations will benefit
those who choose to use reusable bottles, and may cue more students to engage in this practice.
Further, this encourages students to stay hydrated in our hot and arid climate. The overarching
objective of implementing water bottle refill stations in various buildings is to decrease the
number of plastic water bottles consumed on campus and increase the use of reusable bottles.
With water bottle refill stations already installed in various buildings, the quantifiable impacts
are already known. Up to 100,000 16.9 fluid ounce plastic water bottles have already been saved
from one bottle refill station alone in the Science and Engineering library, which was a recent
installation. Similar short-term impact is predicted with the proposed new water bottle refill
station inside the Slot Canyon Cafe and another floor of the ENR2 Building.

Long-Term Campus Benefits

These water bottle refill stations are a great long-term investment because it requires little
maintenance and will stay on campus for many years to come. It will save thousands of plastic
water bottles from being used around campus, which is tracked by each bottle refill station. With
this in mind, we hope that students and staff will be more aware of the impacts plastic water
bottles have on the environment, and in turn, they will be more inclined to use reusable water
bottles.

B. Measurement and Reporting Plan:

The water bottle refill station autonomously collects usage statistics and calculates the amount of
16.9 fl oz. water bottles saved from use. An SFS HydroCats Committee volunteer will collect
this data every two weeks to calculate both rate of use changes over time (in part and in
aggregate) and total bottles saved (in part and in aggregate). The committee will log this data
internally, and update the Green Fund, Students for Sustainability, and the greater campus
community through social media platforms.

Proposal Budget
We are requesting $10,700 to cover the purchase and installation costs of two bottle refill
stations, to be placed in the Slot Canyon Cafe of the ENR2 building, along with $50 for
marketing supplies. The detailed breakdown is shown in the Excel Spreadsheet.

1 Elkay EZH2O bottle refill station -- $5,300

Installation by Facilities Management -- $5,400
Marketing Operations / Overhead Cost -- $50
Total Cost: $10,750
Total Requested Funds: $10,750