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New ITD water fountains save tens of thousands of bottles, and
up to $35,000 per year

Eight new water fountains were installed at the main ITD Headquarters complex in Boise this spring. They have already saved more than 20,000 plastic bottles, and greatly reduced iron, chlorine and dirt particles from the water to improve health for employees. District 1 is also investigating this. And District 5 was the original inspiration.

Paying for outside water service was costing ITD $8,000 to $10,000 per year, just at Headquarters. District 1 paid $4,070 last year.

Headquarters Building Services installed five refrigerated, filtered water fountains in the Headquarters main building – the first was installed Feb. 1 near the employee break room and public bathrooms in the main lobby, another one was installed in the DMV hallway, and a third where the hallway splits by Building Services and heads back to the ETS/IT areas. There also was one installed on the second floor, and one on the third. r.

By early April, Headquarters had saved more than 10,000 plastic bottles, and the total just for the HQ building was 50,000 bottles by the end of August.

The projected savings will overtake the cost of installation for the new units, and the department will see a positive return on investment in about a year at Headquarters.

The innovation was originally proposed by Ken Angell, Human Resource Manager for the districts. Angell was inspired by D5, who made the conversion several years ago, and is saving about $3,700 per year. District 3 also made the conversion within the past year.

This is a great example of a Times 7 innovation. District 1 has started investigating the conversion at their facility, where they spent more than $4,000 last year for water service. Extrapolated over every district and including the savings at HQ and at D1, that could amount to approximately $35,000.

Since the upgrades will cost a little more than $12,000, this innovation will pay for itself within three to four years at D1. Six water fountains on the CDA campus are set to be upgraded.

Headquarters water fountain.