Providing Students with Adequate School Drinking Water Access in an Era of Aging Infrastructure: A Mixed Methods Investigation.

ABSTRACT: Ensuring students' access to safe drinking water at school is essential. However, many schools struggle with aging infrastructure and subsequent water safety problems and have turned to bottled water delivery systems. Little is known about whether such systems are feasible and effective in providing adequate student water access. This study was a mixed-methods investigation among six schools in an urban district in the U.S. with two types of water delivery systems: (1) tap water infrastructure, with updated water fountains and bottle fillers, and (2) bottled water coolers. We measured students' water consumption and collected qualitative data from students and teachers about their perceptions of school drinking water. Student water consumption was low-between 2.0 (SD: 1.4) ounces per stude

SUBMITTER: Kenney EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6981468 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature