BY JACOB SZETO

WILSONVILLE – “I pledge to no longer buy bottled water for personal use. I pledge to tell my friends and family why I am making this choice and encouraging them to join me.”

These are just two of the six pledges that students, staff and community members had to make to get one of 500 new stainless steel water bottles, at a cost to taxpayers of $5,595.

In May, the West Linn-Wilsonville School District held their annual “Sustainability Showcase,” themed this year as, “Water for the World.” April was the last month that bottled water could be purchased in the district’s high schools, with the district “Proclamation to Eliminate Bottled Water” taking affect on April 29, 2010.

The ban on bottled water will be applied later to the district’s middle schools, once water filling stations are installed. If you think “water filling stations” are water fountains, think again. These filling stations are specially designed for water bottles and don’t have a small price tag. The cost to buy and install filling stations at West Linn High School was over $11,000 and $15,000 at Wilsonville High School.

If you are keeping track, that adds up to over $31,600 spent to eliminate bottled water from the school district’s high schools.