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Power To Save: Colleges Compete To Save Water

SCRANTON — Pennsylvania American Water Company is pitting colleges and universities across the state against each other in a contest in which the environm...

SCRANTON -- Pennsylvania American Water Company is pitting colleges and universities across the state against each other in a contest in which the environment is the big winner.

It's easy to spot all the water bottles students carry around on a college campus like the University of Scranton.

Some are refillable; many more are buying bottle after bottle.

"It fills up and when you're done, it automatically stops."

But Pennsylvania American Water will install a specialized water fountain that refills bottles with cold drinking water at the school that wins the UTap Challenge. It could help save on the use of all those bottles.

The fountains keep track of how many plastic bottles are saved by filling up there.

"In our building, in our facility, we've saved over 1,000 bottles just since we started using them," said Pennsylvania American Water official Susan Turcmanovich.

The University of Scranton is one of the schools in the running.

"I think it would be wonderful because I drink a lot of water. Instead of always having to grab from the room, it's easier to refill and not have to carry, like, seven at a time," said University of Scranton junior Kimberly Heinau.

At the campus store, bottles of water cost a $1.59, so not only could students be saving the environment, they can save some money, too.

Lackawanna College is the other school in our area taking part.

"I bring water with me every day and to have a refillable station would be really convenient and it would certainly reduce waste on campus, so we'd be thrilled to have it," said Lackawanna College spokesperson Wendy Hinton.

The voting is all through Pennsylvania American Water's Facebook page.

Eight colleges and universities are in the running. Voting runs through the end of the month.

"We are in the lead right now and we're working hard every day. We're voting. We hope to keep that going," said Julie Schumacher Cohen, University of Scranton.

But the real victory is keeping bottles out of landfills.

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