Forest Lake State High installs hi-tech spring water vending machines

BUBBLERS are now old-school at Forest Lake State High as pupils go for a “cooler” way to get their water.

Damiene Stone with year 8 student from Forest Lake State High Asu Anae. Forest Lake State High has become first school in Qld to install refillable water stations to help combat plastic waste. (AAP image, John Gass)

BUBBLERS are now old-school at Forest Lake State High as pupils go for a “cooler” way to get their water.

The school, in Brisbane’s southwest, has just installed a hi-tech spring water vending station to cater for students’ desire for ­bottled water and also help in the war on plastic waste. Students and staff were spending more than $6000 a year on bottled water and sending up to 3000 plastic water bottles to landfill.

Jonathan de Lange gets drenched. (AAP image, John Gass)

But in a move by the P&C Association, the school has tapped into new technology by Gold Coast company Water3, enabling students to refill their own bottles with spring water – paid for online by their parents.

The school is the first in Australia to install a Water3 kiosk that dispenses both reusable stainless steel flasks and spring water, with plans to roll out the machines across the country.

Forest Lake’s P & C president Liam Glover said water bubblers were losing popularity, with more people favouring bottled spring H2O. “When we discovered we could offer a cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternative … it seemed a no-brainer,” he said.