New water bottle filling stations at the Libraries

The Libraries received a 2020 Student Sustainability Fund grant of $18,500 last year to install two new water bottle refilling stations in the Hunt Library. Then, the pandemic hit, and the project hit the pause button.

Now, the Libraries is happy to announce that four new water bottle filling stations are installed and ready to use in the Hunt Library. The Student Sustainability Fund grant supported two of them, and the Libraries funded two more. Library patrons can now refill their water bottles on floors 1, 2, 4, 5 at Hunt! 

Additional filling stations have been installed in some of the newly renovated spaces in the Hill Library, near the restrooms on the second and third floors. Prior to the renovation, stations were also added in the West Wing on the second floor and the East Wing on the first floor near the Digital Media Lab.

How big of a deal is this? The first water bottle refilling station in the Hill Library, installed in 2016 with support from a Student Sustainability Fund grant, has saved 275,000 disposable plastic bottles to date. And NC State students care about this issue. Students met with Greg Raschke, Senior Vice Provost and Director of Libraries, in 2019 regarding how to improve the Hunt Library, and water bottle filling stations emerged as a major priority from that conversation. 

"Sustainability is a priority for students on our campus and is also a value within the Libraries among staff,” says Alison Edwards, University Library Specialist. “It was great to have a project like this to put those values into action and for anyone who uses the library to benefit and participate in reducing our collective plastic waste."

Special thanks for this continuing initiative at the Libraries goes to: Sarah Craig and Shaun Bennett who wrote the grant proposal; Liz Bell (project lead) and Patrick Deaton who coordinated the project along with our Libraries Building Services Department; Glenn Privette and Travis Tyo for managing the installation process; and Douglas Lynn, Engineering/Architectural Technician with University In-House Construction Services for additional oversight.