Student Finds Toilet Water Cleaner Than Water Fountain

Middle School student Kyleray Katherman had a hunch something wasn't right with the school's drinking fountain water.

So for an assignment, he decided to test the bacteria content at four water fountains and a toilet to challenge a ban on students from bringing bottled water to class.

Guess which was cleaner? It wasn't the water fountains.

Classmates, teachers, administrators and board members at the Oregon Coast Technology School say they had no idea.

Katherman used Q-tips and petri dishes, swabbing the spigots of four fountains and sampling one toilet, dunking the cotton in the bowl's center and then dragging it around the rim for a complete sample.

He took the results to the school lab and put them under a light to speed up the bacteria's growth. The petri dishes with fountain water were swarming with bacteria. But he said the sample from the toilet was clean, probably because the toilets are doused with cleansing chemicals daily.

"I wanted to see the looks on their faces", Katherman said of the results.

Katherman sayid the school should either bring water bottles back, or install "down-pour" systems such as those used in office water coolers.

He presented his results to the school board, which has promised to make changes. "It was a great lesson. We don't always see things in and about the school that are in need of repair", said the school's principal, adding, "You'd be surprised how clean the water is in a toilet".

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