Fulton County Maintenance Department Installs New Touchless Water Fountains at the School

Gabriel Ruiz-Portillo, Staff Writer

Fulton County Schools’ maintenance department installed touchless water fountains inside the school in January 2021.

Three touchless water fountains were installed over the course of a school day.

The COVID-19 pandemic made the old water fountains impractical. To prevent the spread of the virus, students and teachers would awkwardly push the button for water with their elbow.

“The county had these fountains installed in several schools so students and staff could access drinking water with as little possibility of virus transmission as possible,” said Assistant Principal Darius Maize over email.

There are three fountains, located in the 2.100 hallway, which is the English hallway, the 1.100 hallway, which is the math hallway and next to the stairs in the school cafeteria.

Maize said he is happy with the way the fountains have been used, deeming them very helpful.

The fountains were placed strategically by the school in easily accessible areas. Maize said the new water fountains make it easy to “fill up and go to class quickly.”

“We get a lot of traffic in the English hallways; I compare it to Route 400 because everyone is crossing paths and it’s very congested,” said Maize.

Sophomore Jacob Fuller said he likes the new fountains because of how practical they are.

“It’s very easy to use them because when you come to get water, it just turns on and you don’t have to do anything,” said Fuller.

Freshman Drew DiBiase also said he likes the new water fountains. He said likes how safe they are, especially considering the pandemic.

“Spreading less germs and being safer is huge,” said DiBiase.

Fuller also likes the how handy the fountains are, and the improvements that have been made.

“One improvement that came with these water fountains that I like is the ability to be able to fill up my water bottle when my hands are full,” said Fuller.

DiBiase said these new water fountains are also good for the environment. The fountains have a mini screen at the top that shows how many bottles they have saved.

“I have used the water fountains to fill up my water before and after track throughout the day,” said Fuller.

As of late Monday morning, the English hallway had saved 2168 bottles, the math hallway 1127 and the lunchroom fountain 1709.