On Sept. 29, the University Health Services was visited by four students who reported feeling nauseous after drinking water from the fountain in the Science Center. The department of Environmental Health and Safety was notified, and the water supply to the Science Center was disabled.
“Two students came in early feeling sick after drinking from water in Science Center,” said Richard Arnold, Director of General Medicine. “They also reported that the water had a really bad metallic taste. We contacted the Environmental Health and Safety Department and they shut down fountains.”
“Water filters had been installed on Sept. 6, in the Science Center,” stated Peter Schneider, Director of Environmental Health and Safety, “When students got sick, immediately after we put two and two together and checked out the filters.”  
Water samples were taken from all of the campus buildings and tested at EST Associates as a precaution. The problem was localized in the Science Center because, “The defective filters only served water sources in the Science Center,” said Schneider.
On Oct. 3, the University Health Services sent another email requesting that anyone who felt sick and may have drunk from a fountain in the Science Building to report to the Health Services: 17 students and one faculty member were reported to have felt sick.
New filters have been provided free of charge and new water samples will be sent to EST Associates; it will take weeks to receive the results. “We are testing the water under different situations,” said Schneider, “to make sure that when you first turn it on, it is clean in ten minutes, and when it has been running for ten hours it’s [still] clean.”
“We recognize that it is inconvenient,” said Schneider, “especially since the filter stations are there specifically to provide clean filter water and help reduce plastic bottle use, so we need to get them back up as soon as possible.”