Hydration at IMSA: Implementing 24-7 Water Access

Neeraj Movva et al.
Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:50:00 PDT

Past midnight, IMSA’s in-wing curfew takes action and nobody is allowed to leave. However, one of the most vital facilities located outside of the wing is the water fountain, which is rendered inaccessible through the barriers of the in-wing curfew and stop alarms. Oftentimes, people suddenly wake up in the middle of the night—throats parched, their thirst begging to be satiated. Additionally, many IMSA students don’t come to school with things like water bottle packs. We wanted to observe the prospective reactions from the IMSA student body after implementing a wing-local, readily accessible water source. Extensive polling was conducted to observe how much of the student body was (negatively) impacted by not having a wing-local water source, and how they would react if a wing-local water source were implemented. Additional surveys were distributed among the IMSA student body to determine what would be the most effective wing-local water source among water bottles, a water filter, or even a wing-local fountain. These polls’ results were then used to evaluate the urgency of implementing a wing-local water source and determine how to implement a wing-localized water source to ensure 24/7 water access among the IMSA community.