Joshua Nixon, promoter of the water bottle initiative H2O 2Go, is proposing an optional $5 sustainability fee for students to contribute to fund the project in the future.

Nixon, senior energy and environmental technology major, began going from store to store in 2011 asking local businesses to donate in exchange for advertisements on refillable plastic water bottles distributed for use at hydration stations. He received a call from NIU’s Marketing and Communications Department offering to underwrite his costs, and in 2012 he received his first shipment of 2,000 water bottles for distribution to students.

This year, Nixon approached the department again and received 2,500 reusable water bottles.

“H2O 2Go is trying to reduce the amount of plastic water bottles that people are using because people don’t realize how much oil and work and water and energy go into actually making these bottles,” Nixon said. “People say, ‘Oh, I’m just going to recycle this.’ It takes energy to break down that bottle, and it’s just really an environmental burden for something that you can just get out of the tap.”

Nixon said he is trying to increase awareness of the initiative by having hydration stations placed throughout campus. There are about 25 stations, each of which last up to 30 years.

Nixon said each filtered water hydration station costs $1,000, but the biggest cost is installation, which runs $1,000 to $3,000, with each fountain’s average total cost $3,000. Nixon said the fountains usually only take a few weeks to install, especially if they’re covering an existing fountain.

Junior German major Sarah Scott said she uses the DuSable Hall hydration station three times a week because it’s more cost-effective than using disposable bottles.

“They help save on plastic waste, help the environment, all that good stuff,” Scott said. “It helps save on money and whatnot, and then you’re not lugging 5,000 pounds of water everywhere.”

Students can use the BPA-free reusable bottles handed out by H2O 2Go or refill their own bottle at the motion-activated hydration stations. The stations also have counters that total how many water bottles are saved per station, with some reaching 2,000 to a couple hundred thousand, Nixon said.

Sophomore communication major Emerald Bean said she uses the hydration stations and likes them because they’re easier to use than traditional fountains.

With graduation at the end of the academic year, Nixon said he hopes to find a successor who can manage the responsibilities surrounding maintaining the hydration stations.

“I think that I’m bringing awareness to something that people hadn’t thought about at all before,” Nixon said. “Talking to people one on one I feel like is the biggest impact. Even though I can’t talk to that many people at a time I still feel like trying is more important than saying, ‘Oh, I can’t do much, so I might as well do nothing.’”