(Note: all interviews are from the week of the boiled water notice)

At the end of the first week of school, a water pipe burst, causing the school to go on a boiled water notice while the water was tested.  

“It’s an old school, nothing intentionally happened to break the pipe,” assistant principal Lauren Otero said. “With an old school, you’re going to have constant maintenance issues. It could never happen the rest of the year, or it can happen tomorrow—we just don’t know.” 

The water took three days to test after being shut down. Until they got the results back, the water fountains were covered with plastic bags to prevent students from drinking from them. To cope with the lack of drinking water, the school supplied plastic water bottle cases to every class. 

“I think people are going to be okay with this because there are water bottles in the classrooms,” freshman Kabir Rana said. “But if the water bottles stop coming to the classroom, then people are going to be thirsty and angry.” 

This year, the recycling club started the initiative of implementing recycling bins in all the classrooms just in time for the boiled water notice. With so many students at the school, the amount of plastic water bottle use has increased. 

“It is very concerning since there is such a large population at Plant and thousands of bottles are being handed out daily,” senior Maddie Manthey, a co-founder of the club, said. “But we are hoping that everyone is choosing to recycle the bottles.” 

The notice ended on Friday, August 23, when the test came back saying that the water was clean.  

“The water bottle crates probably affect the school’s budget,” sophomore Shannan Adams said. “They probably don’t have a lot of money to pay for it, and it can take away from other school supplies. It’s also kind of nice because we don’t have to get up to go out of the classroom to get water, but it’s just a huge drain on the money that the school has.” 

Students are now able to use the water fountains again, and there won’t be any more water bottles passed out.  

“It’s a necessity that kids will notice more and more,” junior Thomas Porter said. “I don’t think the students are going to be too happy about it. The students want answers.”