Highlights:
Pipe Problems and Fountain Fixes
What’s in Your Hydro?
Grayson Guzman
April 28, 2025 at 5:42:20 AM
Student Life

When asked if they feel safe drinking from the water fountains here on campus, most students, like freshman Kristina Meguro, replied no. For Meguro, the water fountains are “a bit icky.” She imagines campus water fountains as “somewhere that has a lot of gecko poop. I would just clean them a bit more so it feels nicer to drink out of them.”
Similarly, junior Elijohn Agbayani admitted that he doesn’t “feel safe drinking from the water fountains. I feel like they should clean them everyday and change them out after a couple of years." He added that he would only drink from the fountain if he was really thirsty.
Students say that regular maintenance may fix the problem. When asked about improvements, junior Marie Avelyn Baptista said they “should be maintained more frequently.”
“Regular cleaning and maintenance would be great,” Savannah Mariz Gapuzan added.
“I usually bring water from home,” said Robbiel Fronda, a senior. “The water fountains are old,” he added, “you know, most of the time they're like dirty. Dude, I've heard, like, people have even like, like put their body parts on it and stuff to make it like gross and stuff. It's weird.”
The “Best” Water at Lahainaluna?
According to students, not all fountain water comes out the same. It depends on the location. Some favorite fountains include H-Building, the Office, and the Gym. Students like H building for its convenience and the Gym because it is the newest.
Freshman Maximino Arvizu thinks that “the office water is the best, then the one in the gym.” This is because, apparently, office fountain water is the coldest. According to Arvizu, fountains “need to be colder, and like taste better.”
Senior Chase Yasutake thinks the water fountains on campus are all fine and uses them “a lot to keep my water bottle filled.” Yet, other students agree on the idea that the quality of the fountain depends on the area it is in. It’s “dirty, by dirty areas,” says sophomore Giselle Ganoot.
Similarly, freshman Christopher Apilado seems to agree and thinks that the school should change the location of our fountains “It should be inside to prevent impurities like dirt or dust.”
Old Pipes
P.E. teacher Cliffane Casco offers one idea for why the water is a bit funky. He thinks that the “pipes on campus is old, so I'm not sure how clean the water is.” Casco usually fills his hydro flask at the gym where he spends most of his day and there are newer water fountains. “That's where I usually fill my hydroflask, but usually I try to stay away from drinking the water here on campus.”
The Center for Disease Control recommends that schools “provide water fountains, dispensers, and hydration stations throughout the school,” and to ensure that they are “clean and properly maintained.” They also state “standards and regulations assure that the public water supply is clean and safe as it leaves the water utility. However, lead plumbing parts (pipes, fittings, and fixtures) can contaminate water after it leaves the water main.”
Casco thinks that someone should “come test the water to see if it is clean, and that we have filters on some of these drinking fountains, so then we know that we're drinking clean water.”
In May of 2023, math teacher Cornelio J. Ancheta asked students in his project-based learning (PBL) class to run tests on our school's water. Looking at the question “Is drinking the water at our school safe?”, his students sampled water from several water fountains located all across campus.
“Based from the tests conducted by the staff of the Department of Water Supply,” said Ancheta, “the samples collected from the water fountains were negative for Total Coliform and for E. Coli.”
While the tests were negative for E. coli and Total Coliform, which is the name of a group of bacteria found in water, soil, and the digestive tracts of animals, there may still be other contaminants coming from our old pipes. The EPA suggests routine cleaning and posting “a cleaning time card by the water fountains to allow the cleaning times to be recorded.”
It is important to note that the results of Mr. Ancheta PBL was conducted before the August 8th wildfires. “That was the only testing. Although, I'm planning to repeat the same project that I had” said Ancheta.
3,000 Gallons
Cassie-ann Jacinto, our Student Activities Coordinator offers another possible cause of water contamination. The filters in the fountains, she thinks, are probably old and need to be replaced. “When we got the water fountains installed a couple of years ago,” she speculated, “we had the money to buy them and get them installed, but I don't think it included it getting serviced.”
According to Elkay, the company that manufactures the water fountains we have at school, “Genuine Elkay filters are rated for 3,000 gallons, which is about 19,200 20-ounce bottles. Filter life depends on water conditions and usage.” Also, they “recommend changing your filter 1-2 times per year to keep your filter light green” meaning the filter is working.
Around campus, the filter lights are not even on. Only two fountains can be read for the number of 20 oz quantities dispensed. It doesn’t seem that the filters have been changed in quite a while.
Of the two fountains where you can read the amount of uses, H-Building has filled 36,305 20 oz bottles and K-Building 27,177. H-Building is 189% over and K-Building 142% over what is recommended by Elkay.
According to Victoria Zupancic, the water bottle refilling stations were installed by the environmental club before covid. The club also used to do regular maintenance to the filters. Now that the Environmental Club is disbanded and its advisor is no longer at Lahainaluna, the stations may not be maintained as much.
When they are maintained, says Vice Principal Christopher Webber, the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS) services them.
Ancheta, like many, is concerned that “the filters need to be replaced because the filter has not been replaced for how many years.”
“Until somebody conducts a thorough testing of the water,” said Ancheta, “it remains uncertain whether our water, drinking water, at Lahainaluna high school is safe to drink.”
Grayson is the current 2028 student council Vice President and is running for a second term as sophomore Vice President.