Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Schools Give Water Fountains the Touchless Treatment

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 02/23/21

Alongside investments in personal protective equipment, sanitation stations and distancing shields, some schools are earmarking a portion of their federal CARES Act funding to replace their water fountains with touchless versions that don't need continual cleaning.

According to FloWater, one company that makes refill stations, business is gushing. In the past year, CARES Act funds have been used to install "hundreds" of “touchless” refill stations. Just a few of the installation sites include California's Colton Joint Unified School District, the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado, the Minersville Area School District in Pennsylvania and the Z.E.C.A. School of Arts and Technology in North Carolina.

Touchless variations of traditional water fountains may use foot pedals or sensors for operation. All require students to use their own containers.

Touchless water fountain
A touchless refill station replaces the standard school water fountain.
Source: FloWater

The company stated that more than 750 of its refill stations have been installed in schools, including 400 with the touchless technology. The refill stations are free-standing and connect to any potable water line within 100 feet. According to the company, most facilities can replace old fountains in the same location without having to obtain building permits or do additional construction.

"This is a 'win' on so many levels for our school community," noted Frank Miranda, superintendent at Colton, in a press release. "We have provided clean drinking water, met the pandemic-driven safety challenge for a safe reopening and provided easy access to the healthiest drink possible."

"Before COVID, we were seeing a high demand as schools looked to eliminate plastic waste and contaminants, like lead, from their drinking water," added FloWater CEO Rich Razgaitis in a press release. "Now, with our fully touchless drinking water solution, we are able to meet the national challenge to replace outdated water fountains."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • Texas A&M Opens First Building at Fort Worth Campus, Breaks Ground on Research Facility

    The Texas A&M University System marked a major milestone in the development of its Fort Worth campus by opening its first completed academic building and breaking ground on a second facility designed to expand research and industry collaboration.

  • Photo courtesy of Kraus-Anderson

    Concordia College Completes Memorial Auditorium Renovations

    Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., recently completed a $2.5-million renovation project to Memorial Auditorium, a news release reports. The college partnered with Kraus-Anderson for the project’s construction and ICON Architectural Group for its design.

  • New Jersey Day School Opens New Science & Entrepreneurship Building

    Saddle River Day School (SRDS) in Saddle River, N.J., recently celebrated the grand opening of the new Dr. Kristen Walsh Hall of Science & Entrepreneurship, according to a news release. The school partnered with DIG Architecture on the 32,000 square foot facility, completed on a 17-month construction timeline in time for the beginning of the new school year.