Palo Alto's water is from Hetch Hetchy reservoir in the Sierras and has won awards for its taste.

Reusable bottles make sense here!

There once was a need for hydration,
But Gunn lacked a fill-'er-up station.
Then Aitan and Josh
Heard the call of the slosh,
And brought us this bottling station!

M.V.

However, this can cause more waste than a drinking fountain, considering that most kids pour their water bottle out at the end of the day. Most bottles hold far more than a person will drink from a fountain.

There is also the fact that most teachers will not allow you to drink from a bottle in class, even though THEY do.

Thanks for your efforts, Aitan and Josh. Aitan delivered an impressive plea to the Sustainability Committee, and keyed right into what the district needed in order to overcome problems to reducing plastic water bottle waste from the lunch program.

Here's another reason to reduce plastic water bottle usage - plasticizers that affect regulation of fat storage:

Web Link
“I would not want to say that obesogen exposure takes away free will or dooms you to be fat,” he says. “However, it will change your metabolic set points for gaining weight.
...
Blumberg believes it’s good to reduce exposure to all kinds of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. “Eat organic, filter water, minimize plastic in your life,”


Web Link
Minireview: The Case for Obesogens


Congrats on your success in changing the way things are done so the school uses less disposable plastic!

Wonder which is a greater burden on the environment--the single use water bottles which are recycled, or the cars that so many PAUSD students drive to campus every day?

@Wondering,
The two efforts are not mutually exclusive, and they are different. I don't think the cars are contributing to the giant plastic gyres in the Pacific the way the water bottles are.

Around half of the students walk or bike already. This is an astonishing number for a high school that large. Even though many of them probably then have to spend a lot more time going to and from school.

It would probably be higher if Arastradero were a more walkable street without so many dangerous crossings and there weren't so many major barriers to cross from home, Alma, the railroad tracks, El Camino. It looks good until you actually spend time walking, next to busy street, mostly single file, with fairly dangerous crossings. It's very unpleasant, you can't carry on a conversation while walking abreast unless someone walks in the gutter, which is not safe on Arastradero.

If you support kids all walking and biking, you should have supported those of us calling to reopen Cubberly as part of the bond work. A lot of those cars would be unnecessary.

> I don't think the cars are contributing to the giant plastic
> gyres in the Pacific the way the water bottles are

And you are certaint that all of the plastic water bottles used by Gunn students end up in the oceans of the world? Given how easy it is to throw the bottles in a recycling can--it's really hard to believe your claim.

Given the impact on local traffic by schools--getting students out of their cars would offer a huge reduction in congestion in the transportation environment of Palo Alto.

I admit, I am one of the few parents who drives her child to Paly on my way to work. I can tell you that there is never a back-up in parking lots at either end of the school. I know 1000 students ride bikes to Paly according to the principal. Don't know how the other students arrive, but there really aren't a lot who are driven or drive.

Gunn is a different situation. It's not real safe to bike to Gunn.

Umm, I don't get it. Didn't the school already have "water bottle filling stations"? I mean, water fountains have been standard equipment at schools for many decades.

Mom of Gunn Alumni - we used to get our water from Hetch Hetchy, but due to the drought we get our water from Sunol.

Fancy name for a water fountain?

@Resident - it wasn't the drought, but because of construction on the Hetch Hetchy tunnels that there was a temporary switch to the Sunol reservoir.