Eco Water Systems

Design students build hydration systems

Cal State Long Beach industrial design students demonstrated their creativity by placing mock hydration systems around campus April 21.

In an attempt to build on the campus sustainability effort, the students from the industrial design methodology class constructed potential filtered hydration systems, composed of materials such as cardboard and foam corn. The hydration systems were on display at five locations on campus.

In order to build the designs that would be most beneficial to the university, designers asked students to complete a survey the week before.

In more than a week, each group built a prototype with different abilities, such as sensory water distribution or the option to see water filtrate before dispensing it into a water bottle.

According to Assistant Professor Wesley Woelfel, the surveys helped students design their models based on the needs of the CSULB population.

"We, as designers, think we know all the answers, but it's important to consider students to get information from students," Woelfel said.

The five systems were placed in front of the University Library, outside the Outpost, outside Brotman Hall, east of the first level of the University Student Union and outside the Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

The project is a result of the Student Sustainability Task Force's effort to make CSULB a more eco-friendly campus.

The mock systems would ideally reduce plastic water bottle waste on campus by creating stations to fill up reusable water bottles.

"If we could create a station where you can refill your water bottles and charge a very nominal minimal fee for that just to cover the cost, then we can significantly reduce the amount of waste created," junior industrial design major Gregg Vanderpol said.

However, because the Beach Store system generates revenue from bottled water sales, the groups are working on solutions for the campus to still make money by applying a small student fee increase or charging per fill-up for the filtered water.

Another incentive is having a water system that solely belongs to CSULB, industrial design student Victor Ramos said.

"To have school pride, we talk[ed] about UCLA, or other campuses," Ramos said. "They have something we don't have. It makes them unique. We want to have something that is unique to the CSULB campus."

Some people said that drinking fountains are unhygienic and, therefore, the hydration systems need to be disassociated from fountains.

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