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.
'Word 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.
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
Ec - for someone so focused on the economic side of any issue, I'm surprised you're having such a hard time grasping the fact that there is no "lost revenue to the park" from bottled water sales in this situation. The cooperating association that operates the bookstore is not a concessioner, there is no bid or contract involved, and the park is not guaranteed a percentage of sales.
Cooperating associations do donate a portion of their receipts to the park for activities that would otherwise be unfunded or underfunded, so you would probably interpret that as a loss of revenue. However, since you've previously expressed disdain for activities such as interpretive programs and research, I doubt any reduction in those functions would be a big concern to you.
As yes, consumers still have complete freedom of choice about bottled water. They are free to buy them in plenty of nearby locations. That said, there's no reason the non-profit group running the bookstore should be obligated to sell this particular item.
And why shouldn't I? The cooprating association generates revenues which go to the park. If they get less - the park gets less.
And I would be the last to insist on such an "obligation".
Yup. It must be really rough to have stock in bottled water companies these days. ;-}
Yup, the bottled water industry is going to shrivel up and die any day now. LOL
Another record year.
http://www.bevnet.com/news/2013/u-s-bottled-water-sales-totaled-11-8-bil...
The three largest producers of bottle water are Coke, Pepsi and Dannon. All three stocks are at or near all time highs. Once again Lee, you showed that you just make things up.
... I think you guys are crazy-- arguing about saving plastic bottles???!!!LOL
Gutz--I don't think we are discussing "saving" water bottles. We are talking about reducing the number of them that go to landfills. That seems to me to be worth discussing.
Rick
I would expect an agency like the Park Service that is tasked with preserving our national resources (not exploiting them for business uses) to be at the forefront of these kinds of initiatives. Government initiatives often and purposefully inconvenience people with the purpose of promoting a partical behavior, in this case using re-usable bottles.
I applaud Lake Mead for taking the lead on this and I hope more parks do the same. I have used this particular brand of refill station at our gym and it works very nice for filling bottles. I can't say how many grimy bathroom sinks we refilled our bottles with luke warm water while at Yellowstone. They did have spickets as well in a few places, but they were also warm and wasted a lot of water.
Which is a major source of our problems today. Other than to execute its designated powers, the federal government has no role in promoting or discouraging particular behavior.