I’ll never forget the acrid, almost snot-like taste of my first gulp of ASU drinking water.
A ridiculously naive first-year student, I'd surveyed my new domain with confidence — ecstatic at entering college and taking advantage of all that this real-world incubator could offer. That sweet freshman enthusiasm never lasts, but the first cracks in it appeared after I drank from that water fountain.
I grew up on delicious Flagstaff water, sourced from lakes and mountains, so maybe I was a little spoiled. I began to suspect the quality of the water I was consuming in Tempe.
Once I'd heard similar complaints from other students about the water on campus, I wanted to test the claims to settle the question once and for all: Is the University's drinking water, in fact, drinkable?
A professor advised me to buy Hach water testing strips, easy to interpret for beginners without prior chemistry knowledge. While not as precise as sending water samples to a lab, it was the more accessible option for a student journalist with a hypothesis, since all I had to do was follow the instructions on the container.
I obtained a set of 50 testing strips, but that was nowhere near enough to test every single one of the 1,000 water refilling stations across the University's four campuses.
I whittled down my options to 50 academic buildings in Tempe, excluding dorms, sports facilities and administrative offices. However, upon later examination, I found that my list was flawed and included several non-academic buildings, so I revised my final number of buildings to 44, including the Sun Devil Fitness Complex.
While not meeting my original criteria of a building with classrooms, I'd heard enough anecdotal complaints about the taste of water being particularly concerning at the SDFC to figure that testing its water quality would serve the public interest.
Some buildings have multiple wings and multiple water refilling stations, like the Bateman Physical Sciences Center, or have separate buildings as part of a whole, like the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology complexes. In those cases, my limited resources led me to pick one wing or building of the group to represent the entire series.
I tested one water fountain per building for its levels of chlorine, hardness, alkalinity and pH. Hardness is the amount of calcium and magnesium dissolved in water, which might make drinking water look cloudy with mineral buildup.
Overall, the water fountains' hardness levels ranged from 250 to 425 milligrams per liter. The Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health and Biodesign Institute Building A both measured below the range. Bruce Rittmann, a professor of environmental engineering, said those values are normal even though they appeared high on my testing strips' range. Tempe water's average hardness value is 193 milligrams per liter, according to a report from the city.
"Around here, this part of Arizona, all the water has pretty high levels of alkalinity and hardness," Rittmann said. "It's because of the geology of where the water comes from, so it's kind of normal."
Rittmann said hardness does not influence water's taste or odor, but seasonal microalgae growth and chlorine do. Algae secretes geosmin and methyl-isoborneol — compounds that contribute to water tasting earthy and musty, but are difficult to remove completely, according to the City of Tempe.
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Charles Wexler Hall was the only building where my testing strip showed some level of chlorine, a light purple color on the strip indicating 0.5 milligrams per liter. The Environmental Protection Agency considers levels of chlorine up to 4 milligrams per liter as safe.
"We do want a small amount of chlorine for disinfection," Rittman said.
But he pointed out that chlorine concentrations can vary depending on how far away the water is from the treatment plant.
There's a chance that my less-than-lab-grade test couldn't pick up on amounts of chlorine smaller than 0.5 milligrams per liter, meaning that the campus water I tested might have a chlorine level higher than zero.
Mariana Hernandez, a sophomore studying psychology who is based in West Valley, would buy bottled water to avoid getting an upset stomach from the water fountains. On the Tempe campus, she said the water tastes "a little bit more acidic."
"There's an aftertaste (from water fountains), and that's one of the reasons, again, that I decided to just buy bottled water," Hernandez said.
To Hernandez, the exterior of the water fountains looks unclean and might contribute to the water's taste. Samuel Robertson, the assistant vice president of facilities management at the University, said in an emailed statement that the surfaces of water bottle stations "are cleaned twice daily," and there are no known instances of water fountains being removed for water quality concerns.
But Robertson also said drinking water is "not routinely tested" for contaminants because the school relies on the municipality.
"If a concern is reported, ASU Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) conducts or coordinates water sampling and testing as needed," Robertson said in the statement.
List of buildings tested
Bateman Physical Sciences Center, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, A. J. Matthews Center, Armstrong Hall, Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health, Psychology North, Art Building, Design North, Cowden Family Resources, Education Lecture Hall, Ross-Blakley Hall, Memorial Union, Barry M. Goldwater Center for Science and Engineering, Urban Systems Engineering, Noble Library, Durham Hall, Student Services Building, Psychology Building, Student Pavilion, Hayden Library, Stauffer Communication Arts, Interdisciplinary A, Engineering Research Center, H.B. Farmer Education Building, L. S. Neeb Hall, Music Building, The J. Russell and Bonita Nelson Fine Arts Center, West Hall, John W. Schwada Building, Creativity Commons, Social Sciences Building, Robert K. and Sharon DuPont McCord Hall, Engineering Center, Interdisciplinary Science and Technology 2, Sun Devil Hall, Bulldog Hall, Business Administration, Discovery Hall, Life Sciences Center, Ira D. Payne Educational Hall, Carrie Matthews Hall, Biodesign Institute, Charles Wexler Hall and the SDFC
Editor's note: This article is based on the experiences and non-formal research of the author and should not be treated as a scientific study.
Edited by George Headley, Henry Smardo and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at mosmonbe@asu.edu and follow @miaosmonbekov on X.
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Mia Osmonbekov is a senior reporter. She previously reported for Arizona Capitol Times, Cronkite News DC, La Voz del Interior and PolitiFact. She is in her 7th semester with The State Press working previously as the opinion editor and assignment editor.
