Water Bottle Filling Stations III

Here's an update on the improved Elkay installation at the Detroit Zoological Society. The signage - in focus in real life - uses the DZS "join us on our green journey" logo and provides eye-catching visitor education on water bottle use impact.

And I recently encountered the California Academy of Sciences' installation from Global Tap. The Academy developed the larger-sized counter for increased visitor impact. I think it gets their attention.
 

 

Water Bottle Filling Stations II

Are You Serious About Banning Bottled Water?  

The Detroit Zoological Society is. This is an indoor water bottle filling station in the education building:

This is me joyfully filling a water bottle and checking the counter: over five thousand bottles saved!

The trouble with filling a water bottle at a drinking fountain is that the flow rate is too low and the angle is impossible.  These filling stations are hands-free solutions to all those problems - and look mom...no plastic bottles to recycle! 

This is an Elkay (www.elkayusa.com) retrofit module - costing not quite $700 - to put on top of your existing water fountain yet still keep the water fountain!  

There are free-standing modules for outdoor locations, too.  Each allows water bottle filling plus two heights of drinking foundations.

Really? - What are you waiting for? 

Green Options: Water Bottles II

So I first showed you this very useful version of a water bottle-filling station:  Green Options: Water Bottles

Now here's one that capitalizes on the opportunity to educate and inform:



Portland (ME) Jetport mural and water bottle-filling station



A close-up of the message - talk about local water!



24,524 bottles filled by July 2012

Now just think how you can brand your filling station with your museum's message!

Green Options: Water Bottles

This is a visitor service discussion - not the 'why the heck do we still use these things?' discussion.

We know one of the best ways to facilitate change is to offer a different, better behavior that addresses the need that triggers the activity we wish to change.

Bottled water. They want to buy it, we want them to bring a bottle and fill it. Drinking fountains are less prevelent, bathroom faucets not so bottle-friendly. What to do?

Seen at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD

Water bottle filling stations, of course!

This one is placed at an intersection of four buildings - a high traffic area.

I would place it in a high traffic area in your museum and make sure there's one right near the gift shop where you sell branded reusable bottles.

But it's not good enough to just offer a stopgap. Reward and reinforce this positive behavior with feedback:

Of course, you have to plug in the station (see plug underneath the unit), but then if you buy or use green power, that's really not an issue, is it?