New water bottle filling and cleaning stations have debuted on campus. These machines, called Evive Stations, are located in the ARC and in the Robert M. Smith Student Center.
Tom Patrini, a Pittsburgh inventor, is the creator of the Evive Station, and the purpose of the Evive is to supply students with clean filtered water, as well as sanitation of the bottles supplied.
In order to use the station, students must first obtain a special Evive Station bottle. Bottles can be purchased for $7 in the Robert M. Smith Student Center.
After buying a bottle, students must visit evivestation.com and register their bottle in order for the Evive Station to read the sensor located on the bottom of the bottle.
A step-by-step approach to registering is offered at evivestation.com. It states that you must create your profile and personal PIN, order your Evive bottle, and then take your Evive bottle to any station and scan it.
Your bottle will be sanitized, dried and then filled with cold, filtered water. If your bottle is already clean, all you have to do is set your bottle in the fill chamber, enter your PIN, and filtered water will fill your bottle.
“The station is actually pretty cool,” freshman geology major Bryan Marcucci said. “It’s good for when I’m working out at the ARC, because it’s nice to have clean filtered water. It’s also nice to not have to make several trips to the water fountain when I’m thirsty.”
Students are wondering if more Evive Stations will appear in other locations on campus.
“A new survey will be issued in one month, which will ask students what they think and how they feel about the new Evive Stations,” Dr. Paula Olivero, Assistant Vice President of Student Development said. “The responses that students provide will determine if Slippery Rock places more Evive Stations in other locations on campus.”
Olivero also explained that the stations pay for themselves through advertisers that pay for their advertisements to play on an attached screen while users wait for their bottles to fill or get sanitized.
