Hydration station at The Peter S. Buck Center for Health and Wellness, one of several across campus.

While an eco-friendly push toward hydration stations – fountains designed to refill water bottles – has been embraced by colleges across the country of late, Bowdoin has been drinking from that well for a while now.

Hydration stations in the Peter Buck Center for Health and Fitness, Farley Field House, Smith Union, and Moulton Dining Hall, installed during the 2009-2010 academic year, and another in Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, minimize waste and save students from having to buy new bottles of water.

“We’ve seen a steady increase in the number of students who regularly carry a water bottle around with them for drinking water,” says Coordinator for a Sustainable Bowdoin Keisha Payson. “The hydration stations provide students, faculty, and staff with fresh drinking water in a sustainable way.”