by Brendan Clementz

For the past month, the water filters at water bottle fountains in the school have been at “red” status, and have just now been changed and have gone back to “green.” So what does it take to get the filters changed? 

Water filter meters on fountains school-wide return to green this week.

Bellbrook High School Principal Mr. Hann said, “The district maintenance department has the tools to do it,” but that the department’s workers “are very stretched and working around the district.” This means that more trivial matters, such as changing water filters that don’t affect water safety much, are lower on the lengthy priority list. 

Bottle-filling fountains have three lights: green, yellow and red. Yellow signifies that the water filter should be expected to be changed soon, and does not mean that the water quality has actually dropped from what it would be at “green.”

Even if the fountains do go on red, meaning that the water filter may not be effective anymore, the water filters are not necessary in order for the water to be drinkable. It may even be difficult to tell the difference.

When asked if he thinks he would be able to tell the difference between unfiltered and filtered water, freshman Jackson North said, “Probably not.” As students continued to use the bottle fillers even while the light remained red, this is a sentiment that seems to be shared among the student body.

This situation is not a new development. In the past, an article was written for Eagleview News over this very subject, and at the time in 2022, the maintenance department was similarly “short-staffed” and, as such, unable to fix the water filters for an extended period.