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New Water-Filling Station At Lake Mead National Recreation Area Helps Cut Disposable Plastic Water Bottle Use

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Jacob Vanlue, 17, from O'Fallon, Missouri, fills his water bottle at the water refilling station at the Alan Bible Visitor Center at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. NPS photo.

Editor's note: Due to concerns from the Haws Corporation, which has trademarked the phrase "Hydration Station," this story has been edited to remove those two words as they appear back to back.

A new water-filling station at the main visitor center for Lake Mead National Recreation Area has been in service for six months, and in addition to reducing the use of disposable plastic water bottles, use of the filtered water is proving popular with visitors. Since it's installation, the station has been used to fill 13,600 water bottles.

You'd expect to find a drinking fountain at any park visitor center'”especially one in the desert'”and this filling station does that job nicely, plus a little more. It works just like a standard drinking fountain but also has a shelf for easy filling of water bottles. A sensor initiates the water fill, and every time a bottle is filled, that action is automatically counted and displayed on the station.

'œWord is getting around that this is the place to stop and refill your water bottle, which with the heat and everything else, that'™s a really good message to have,' said Michelle Riter, a Lake Mead NRA district interpreter.

Riter said installation of the water-filling station at the Alan Bible Visitor Center is part of the Lake Mead NRA'™s Climate Friendly Parks action plan to cut down on plastic water bottle waste. This plan includes initiatives to increase visitor use of refillable water bottles, increase number of filling stations in the park and collaborate with the visitor center store to sell less expensive refillable water bottles.

Once the water-refilling station was installed, Riter said they stopped selling bottled water at the visitor center store and began selling more varieties of refillable water bottles. She said the least expensive water bottle is only $2.99 and has the Lake Mead NRA logo on it along with facts about the park.

The Vanlue family, from O'™Fallon, Mo., visited the store in early August, purchased a refillable water bottle and filled it at the station. After Jacob, 17, filled up his bottle, his mom, Barbara, said she was thankful for the station and the reduction of plastic water bottle waste in landfills.

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A counter automatically records how many times the water bottle portion of the station has been used. NPS photo.

It'™s not just popular with families and individual visitors. Gabriel Kelsey-Yoder, Western National Parks Association (WNPA) bookstore manager, said large tour groups often stop by the visitor center and have been receptive to purchasing and using the refillable water bottles. She said she has seen campground users come to refill their water bottles at the refilling station as well because they prefer the cold, filtered water.

Park visitors, especially local hikers and bicyclists who use the trails, have been spreading the news about the new refilling station by word of mouth and through social media, Riter added. They are excited to see how many water bottles have been refilled and want refilling stations to be installed in other areas of the park.

Funding for the refilling station was provided by the WNPA. The Alan Bible Visitor Center is located just of US 93 between Boulder City, Nevada, and Hoover Dam.

 

Comments

there's an word it that: fraud.

While there is some evidence that is going on, that was not the point I was making.

As a home owner, i have a choice. 1) I can throw everything in the garbage and pay a set monthly fee or 2) I can seperate out the recycle items. In that case I get charged for the same price for the trash PLUS a charge for the recycle. If recylce is cheaper and reduces landfill costs - why do I get charged MORE to recycle? We have commercial (and competitive) trash service so this is not a monopoly situation. It also isn't subsidized by the town so I suspect it is more reflective of the true cost of trash/recyle.

I don't think your insurance agent knows what he/she is talking about (or you just made it up again). Of the 16 states that have secondary seat belt laws - 10 are in the bottom half of auto insurance rate costs. The one state without any seatbelt law has the fourth lowest costs. Injury coverage is about 30% of my total premiums - and only that high because I have a very high level of coverage - nearly twice the minimum. To suggest that going from a secondary to a primary seatbelt law would cut those premiums in half is absurd.


Toss in a few bells and whistles and the cost becomes almost identical with the hydration stations:

Or, you could put in ten of these. Serves exactly the same purpose at less than 10% the cost.

http://www.faucetdepot.com/faucetdepot/ProductDetail.asp?Product=85882&A...

But then we wouldn't have the "bells and whistles". A park isn't a park without the "bells and whistles".


Why am I not surprised that EC would be against the hydration station.


Buxton - Because you would be wrong and obviously did not read the thread. I am not against the hydration station - though agree with tahoma's comments that a Park Service always crying poverty might want a less expension version.

What I am against is banning sales of bottled water which inconveniences visitors and cost the park service revenues.


Glad to have you clarify that you're not against the hydration station ... although that was hardly clear when you referred to it earlier as "More mindless "do good".

As to, "What I am against is banning sales of bottled water which inconveniences visitors and cost the park service revenues." Please at least get the facts right. As has been repeated at least twice above, this isn't costing the park service a penny in revenue.

The previous sale of bottled water, and the reusable water bottles which are being sold as an alternative, are handled by the cooperating association which operates the bookstore in the visitor center. Do you know how much revenue for that organization was lost from bottled water sales, compared to what was gained by sales of the reusable water bottles? I doubt it, and neither do I, but it's quite possible any "loss" of revenue will prove to be neglibible. Time will tell, but either way, this sales outlet is about more than just maximum profits.

The mission statement for the association says, " In partnership with the National Park Service since 1938, Western National Parks Association advances education, interpretation, research, and community engagement to ensure that national parks are increasingly valued by all."

I'd say fuding this hydration station, and making it easy for visitors to make the switch to reusable water bottles, is right in line with that mission ... and given that opportunity, continuing to sell throw-away water bottles when another option is readily available would be contrary to that mission.

As to the "inconvenience" to visitors, they have the option to buy a nice water bottle that is durable enough to be reused over and over, vs. a flimsy throwaway, and according to the article, the difference in cost is minimal. Refill the new bottle a couple of times, and from then on, the visitors are saving money with every use. Some of them may actually find they enjoy the switch, and the resulting savings in money that will result.

If people are truly committed to throw-away bottles, they are readily available not far away at a number of commercial sales locations, so why should the bookstore in the visitor center - whose mission is to help educate visitors about wise use of resources - be obligated to offer them?

I for one salute the Association for this program!


Excellent post, Mtnliving. But you forgot one small yet very important detail.

The little counter on the station seemed to upset ec, but it's really a very important -- and hopefully educational -- tool to try to show the public how much good such a small gesture as refilling a reuseable bottle can have on our tattered old world.

It must be tough to own stock in bottled water companies these days.


show the public how much good such a small gesture

So Lee - exactly how much "good" is it? What exactly did pouring 13,000 bottles of water accomplish? Not having 13,000 plastic bottles go to the dump? So what? I wish you people would put as much effort into real problems with productive solutions. Banning bottle water sales in a park addresses no real problem and provides no productive solution.


Glad to have you clarify

I guess you missed this coment by me two days earlier in the thread.

"My objection is not to the "station" (though your suggestions would provide a comparable and cheaper solution"

this isn't costing the park service a penny in revenue.

Bottled water is a high margin (80%+), high volume sales item. I have little doubt that the net profit of bottled water sales exceeds the profit on $2.99 reusable bottles. If they didn't, the concessionaire would have been unlikely to sell them in the first place. Concessionaires bid for NP concessions. Their bid is based on their expected profit. If that expected profit is lower, due to the ban of sales of certain items, their bid will be lower. That is lost revenue to the park.

Some of them may actually find they enjoy the switch, and the resulting savings in money that will result.

And that should be their choice to make - not one you make for them.


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