Seven out seven students interviewed had complaints about the school and its attempt to become more ecologic.

Lately, The Columbus School has been focusing a lot on becoming more green and ecologic by creating programs such as ecolumbus, but it seems like they’ve been leaving behind students voices and opinions. There’s a story being told by the school and the directives about being green, but there is a total different scene when it comes to the students.

From middle to high school many students have objections, not about the fact that the school is trying to help the environment, but about the way they manage these programs and the implementation of new rules that are hard to digest and adapt to.

Banishing the Sale of Plastic Bottles

First, TCS prohibited the sale of sodas both in cups and in bottles, which bothered students but not as much as when they banished the sale of specifically plastic water bottles. The school established water spots around the buildings, but these spots are not drinking spots, they are just to refill your thermos. Also, many students don’t like the water that the school offers, or sometimes they don’t have a thermos to refill nor money to buy a cup in the cafeteria.

“Although I like the fact that the school is trying to help our environment, I don’t like that they took away water bottles because I didn’t like to bring my thermos to school and now I have to bring it filled from my house due to the fact that I don’t like the water from the school because it doesn’t taste good; it tastes like metal and sometimes it’s like a whitish color. Also when I forget my thermos and I don’t have money to buy a cup from the cafeteria, I have to ask someone for water which is not my favorite thing in the world,” 11th grader Isabel Arias stated.

Tomas Upegui, a TCS 7th grader, and Isabela Molina, a TCS 11th grader, were interviewed and they had similar things to say about the taste of the water that the school offers.

“I hate the water that the school offers;  it has a horrible taste sometimes it tastes like chlorine, and honestly it kind of disgusts me,” stated Molina. 

“The most terrible water I have tasted is the water from the school;  it tastes like pool water,” stated Upegui. 

Bottled Water vs Treated Water

According to FDA and EPA regulations, studies have shown that bottled water is much healthier than treated water. Meanwhile, bottled water comes from natural springs which then go through a purification process which has no chlorine involved, while treated sink water goes through many pipes and it is cleaned with chlorine.

“I  think bottled water is better for our health because we don’t know how the school treats the water or where it goes through, and also it has a taste, kind of like a chlorine taste which means it has to have chemicals in order to treat it meanwhile bottled  water is pure water,” stated Sebastian Arteaga, a 12 grader.

The water that the school offers is treated water which can sometimes vary in taste due to many different conditions.

Agustin Jaramillo an 11th grader said “The taste in the school’s water is very peculiar; this is due to the fact that the water undergoes a special purification and cleaning process that uses chemicals to ensure that the water is “clean” and drinkable. This process alters the PH level of the water, and because it has diluted chemicals in its composition; it alters negatively its taste”.

Due to the different and complicated requirements that treated water needs to meet, bottled water is definitely more healthy, fresh and clean and hygienic than treated water that can sometimes be cloudy. This means that bottled water is better for students health, and it seems like the school is not taking into consideration that meanwhile treated school water is healthy for the environment, it is not as healthy for the students.

Potential Solution

Many students around the school believe that being or not being green should depend on every student’s inclination, not on the school making it an obligation.

“Although taking away water bottles is a nice start to become more ecologic and the water dispensers are a great idea and they should totally leave them,  I don’t think the plastic bottles should be banished. I think it should depend on every person to be conscious and decide for themselves if they want to be ecologic or not by buying plastic bottles or not,” 12th grader Emilio Pelaez stated.