New school gets proactive about student health
Studies have shown that the average Australian only drinks 1.29 litres of water per day – well below the 2.5 (for males) and 2.0 (for females) recommended by most leading health organisations.
With dehydration a leading cause of fatigue and poor mental function, the impact of this in the classroom is obvious. Fortunately, schools are well aware of this issue and are promoting the benefits of regularly drinking water through educational programs as well as by providing indoor and outdoor options for clean, accessible drinking water.
One company that has been promoting a healthy, sustainable and environmentally-friendly way of life for students is CIVIQ, which has been working with various schools and universities for more than 20 years.
In October, CIVIQ installed 17 drinking fountain and bottle refill stations at the Adelaide Botanic High School (ABHS) – a new $100m state-of-the-art secondary school set to open from February 2009.
ABHS – located in Adelaide Parklands, close to the CBD – is South Australia’s first vertical school and second city high school and will start with Years 8 and 9 students initially, growing to 1,250 students by 2022.
With the school’s strong focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, it’s appropriate that its students access the latest technology in clean drinking water. Simultaneously, it will keep the nearby city environment plastic free and reduce plastic waste.
The project architects, Cox Architecture, contacted CIVIQ about providing a vandal resistant product designed for repeated use, which would also provide long service and meet the building design requirements. CIVIQ recommended the Elkay EZH2O drinking fountain and bottle refill station inside the school and the Aquafil Bold 850BF for external locations.
The Elkay EZH2O Vandal- Resistant drink station has a sleek architectural design and will provide students and staff with easy access to filtered cool water all year round. The push button activation and quick fill rate are well suited for the school environment.
The unit is wall-mounted, allowing for more floor space around the unit and is wheel-chair accessible. It also includes a visual LED filter monitor, which keeps track of usage rate and provides maintenance information such as when the filter needs to be replaced.
The Aquafil Bold 850BF is freestanding drinking fountain and bottle refill station constructed of stainless steel. It is a strong, durable and weatherproof product, which is DDA compliant and also easily accessible by wheelchair users. It features an anti-bacterial bottle refill point and a drinking fountain with a protective mouth guard.
The units are being installed by Hindmarsh Plumbing Services, which has worked with CIVIQ previously.
“I have used CIVIQ’s products before, the large range gives me options for various projects and I am very happy with the quality,” the company’s project manager, Victor Trebilcock, said.