Abstract
Ensuring students’ access to safe drinking water at school is essential. However, many schools struggle with aging infrastructure and subsequent water safety problems and have turned to bottled water delivery systems. Little is known about whether such systems are feasible and effective in providing adequate student water access. This study was a mixed-methods investigation among six schools in an urban district in the U.S. with two types of water delivery systems: (1) tap water infrastructure, with updated water fountains and bottle fillers, and (2) bottled water coolers. We measured students’ water consumption and collected qualitative data from students and teachers about their perceptions of school drinking water. Student water consumption was low—between 2.0 (SD: 1.4) ounces per student and 2.4 (SD: 1.1) ounces per student during lunch. Students and teachers reported substantial operational hurdles for relying on bottled water as a school’s primary source of drinking water, including difficulties in stocking, cleaning, and maintaining the units. While students and teachers perceived newer bottle filler units positively, they also reported a distrust of tap water. Bottled water delivery systems may not be effective long-term solutions for providing adequate school drinking water access and robust efforts are needed to restore trust in tap water.
Highlights
Promoting the consumption of plain water as a beverage and promoting better access to drinking water are important public health goals
Our goal was to sample several schools within our partner district, ensuring that two different drinking water infrastructure systems prevalent in the district were represented across our sampled schools: (1) no tap water infrastructure available, with only bottled water coolers; and (2) tap water infrastructure available, including updated water fountain/bottle filler units
While 95% of students reported on their surveys that they felt their teachers wanted them to drink water, and while teachers repeatedly noted their wish for students to stay hydrated, in focus groups, students reported that teachers often prohibited them from drinking water
Summary
Promoting the consumption of plain water as a beverage and promoting better access to drinking water are important public health goals. Drinking plain water as a beverage instead of sugary drinks could help address obesity [1,2] as well as reducing the risk for Type II diabetes [3] and dental caries [4]. Drinking water can help improve hydration status, potentially reducing the risk of wellbeing concerns such as headaches, stomachaches, and poorer cognitive function [5,6]. Ensuring adequate drinking water access is of particular concern for children’s health. Several federal and state regulations require public schools in the United States to provide access to safe
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