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Elkay® Pro Filtration™ Enables University’s Student Union to Handle High Demand for Cleaner, Safer Drinking Water
The Union serves as a center of community for more than 40,000 students and staff at one of the largest universities on the East Coast.
The Objective
Significantly improve the drinking water accessibility, safety and experience at the university’s Union.
The Challenges
Outdated drinking fountains and bottle filling stations at the Union led to declining performance and persistent maintenance needs. One unit in particular, located in a high-traffic area of the union, needed frequent repairs.
“Maintenance was becoming a significant issue,” said Jacob Womack, the Union’s Assistant Director of Facilities. “We literally kept an out-of-order sign next to [the unit] because it wasn’t worth taking it back downstairs.”
The Zurn Elkay Solution
Seeking a solution that enabled proactive maintenance, improved data capabilities and enhanced water quality, the team saw the Elkay® Pro Filtration™ Bottle Filling Station as the ideal choice.
The unit was installed near a courtyard that serves as an epicenter for student activity, with Womack noting that “if it can work in that location, it can work anywhere else in the building.”
The Results
The results were immediate—not only did the team no longer have to consistently service the unit, but the water quality noticeably improved as well.
“I’ve got several people that use a certain bottle filler…all of those people are now going to that one,” Womack said, “I’ve seen people walk downstairs and across the building to fill up their bottle there rather than elsewhere in the building.”
The unit created substantial time savings for facility and maintenance staff. The filter, now accessible from the top of the unit, could be replaced significantly faster, and the process was safer for staff.
“The less time I can spend on my back under a machine, the better,” Womack said. “I love that the filter is so much more accessible.”
The unit’s compatibility with the plumbSMART™ platform allowed Womack and team to monitor filter status and record data right from the office, rather than needing to travel to the unit. This shifted the team toward preventative maintenance, allowing Womack to understand maintenance needs in advance and schedule proactively.
“It’s one of the few areas I can actually point to where we are on the front end of the curve with predictive maintenance,” he said.
Water quality was also a critical consideration for the team, and the upgraded filtration system provided peace of mind about lead, PFAS and sediment. A large chemical spill in the river which serves several communities local to the university led to greater student awareness and concern about PFAS, and Womack saw the Pro Filtration’s capabilities and filter options as a key point for student satisfaction.
“The water tastes better out of there,” said Todd McLamb, building maintenance manager. “There are two of our old fountains right beside it, and I can tell the difference.”
The team also saw a massive increase in the efficiency of bottles saved. In just over two weeks of service, the Pro Filtration unit saved nearly 2,000 bottles. At that rate, Womack said the new unit would eclipse the total bottles saved by other bottle filling stations—which have been in service for nearly 10 years—in only 18 months.
Given the unit’s success, the team is in the process of replacing the rest of the building’s bottle filling stations with new Elkay Pro Filtration units.
It’s one of the few areas I can actually point to where we are on the front end of the curve with predictive maintenance.
Jacob Womack
Assistant Director of Facilities
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