Helping Kids Drink More Water

Making it easier for kids to drink water at school

One way to help children cut back on unhealthy sugary drinks is to give kids more access to drinking water. That's the change that Petersburg School District made in schools across the Southeast Alaska community.

Replacing water fountains with water bottle stations

Petersburg School District — When Petersburg School District received a wellness grant, the staff got together to come up with ways to have a lasting impact on Petersburg children — even after the grant was gone. They noticed school water fountains were getting old. Over several years, they replaced them with fountains that could also fill water bottles.

The district installed three water bottle filling stations at the high school, two for the middle school, two for the elementary school, then two more for the gym area where the elementary students have physical education classes. Those filling stations gave students access to water no matter where they were.

Then the district went a step further. It gave a water bottle to every single student. That's about 450 students in grades K-12. They could fill up those water bottles throughout the day. They also could drink from their water bottles during class.

Bottles brought a change

Teachers and staff at Petersburg schools noticed a change. Students are drinking water, not sugary drinks.

"The water bottle filling stations have changed the habits of our students," said the school's athletic director. "Our students bring their personal water bottles on trips and get disappointed when they get to other schools and they don't have water bottle filling stations."

Drinking water is encouraged in the cafeteria, too. Carlee Johnson, Petersburg School District's Food Service Director, is a strong believer in drinking water rather than fruit juice. She said fruit juice contains "empty calories" and encourages eating whole fruits and drinking water instead. Students can bring their water bottles into the lunch room. In Petersburg schools, pitchers of water also are available in lunch rooms. That water is often made more appealing by providing slices of lemon or lime to flavor it.

Watch this Play Every Day video to learn more about Petersburg's efforts to make water more accessible to students at school.

How to support change

This is what Alaska communities are doing to help kids grow up healthy. What can your community do?

For ideas on how to provide healthy foods, drinks, and physical activity for kids, return to: