Tag Archives: Nick Pattison ’14

Where Does Your Water Go?

We forget about it at the moment it swirls down the drain, as if it were sucked into a dark hole of endless space: once out of sight, it is out of mind. This is how many of us, myself included, think when we take showers or brush our teeth, but is this really how we should think about the water that we use? Shouldn’t we know where our water leads and what happens there? In this article, we will unravel the path across your pipes and the where it goes. Once experiencing the result of your water’s travel, you will believe that every flush counts.

Even though it is a small town, Easthampton produces massive amounts of waste, purifying anywhere from about 1.5 million to 8 million gallons of water in a day. The process of cleaning this dirty water expends many resources itself and it begins with you, when you use water.

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Dining Hall Goes Green

Just a few weeks ago, I brought my plate up to the dirty dish belt, where I normally throw away my napkin, but there was no garbage can. I considered throwing away my napkin into the silverware bin. Soon, I found a small sign that said, “We are now composting. Napkins and food stay on your plate.” I immediately thought that my efforts to push the dining hall to get a composting system had finally succeeded.

The Sustainable Life Club had been urging the dining hall to get a composting system installed for a few months. I remember Mr. Martin telling me that it was too costly for what they would be able to compost, but the last time that they considered composting was a few years ago. I thought that the club would have to put on a fundraiser so that we could raise money to bring the composting system into the dining hall.