By MADI FLEURY ’28
Updated 11:50 a.m. EDT, 2 Oct 2026
The water quality on campus is overflowing with problems. To be honest, it’s giving last spring’s flood a run for its money in the “most chaotic campus liquid” category. This is my second year on campus and second year of living in Gillette (now East) hall. The water quality issues I have experienced have been brutal to my health. I suffer from a chronic illness which affects a lot of my life choices and what goes into my body.
To those who are going to make comments of “Just get a Brita filter” or “Everyone gets sick in college”, you’d be better off skipping this article. Truth be told, I have tried a Brita filter. I still use one to this day. I never drink unfiltered water because I know the health risks one can experience from unfiltered tap water.
When I moved onto campus last year, August 2025, I came equipped with more electrolyte packets and supplements than a human could need. I also brought a brand-new, still in the box Brita pitcher. I used my Brita filter religiously, filling up my teal water bottle multiple times a day. If I wasn’t in my dormitory, I would fill it up using the water station in the Greatbatch atrium.
I realize that every first-year student goes through an adjustment, and hormonal changes as they adapt to a new environment. Still, the symptoms that I started to experience at around the second week of Sept. became similar to those I had experienced the past Spring. I could tell that my levels were becoming off again. However, my nutritional intake hadn’t differed.
Eventually, we began getting emails from Bill Burrichter, the Vice President for Student Life. Each email began with the statement that our water in East hall would be down for a period of time while they worked on the plumbing. After they turned it back on, the taste and clarity of the water was unreliable. Allow me to paint a picture: if you were to fill up a clear glass, you would see a very cloudy liquid. It often would take about 45 seconds for the water to become transparent enough to see through.
Following the visual red flags, I became physically alarmed by an increase of health issues. I began to experience more frequent headaches, weakness that quite literally kept me in bed at times, and nausea that not even Zofran – a common over-the-counter nausea medication – could not ease. I was also going through Brita filters at least once a month. According to the official Brita website, the replacement should be around 2 to 6 months. However, one phrase caught my attention: “If you have hard water, you may need to change filters more often.”
This statement led me to informally research symptoms of drinking hard water, which led me to suspect that this was a problem at Houghton University (HU).
Two of the main components of hard water are the calcium and magnesium levels. Calcium is a major aggressor for migraine attacks, making it easier for my body to fall into flare-ups. Usually I would drink more water as staying hydrated would help me, but the levels made that impossible.
Many of us dealing with chronic migraines are prescribed magnesium oxide supplements as a preventative. Similar to a block tower, too much magnesium can ruin the entire point of the supplement. A solid tower starts nice and steady, but as you put more weight, height and blocks onto the tower, it begins to stumble. By the time it gets to its limit, it doesn’t become much of a help than it does a risk. Eventually it falls apart and goes to waste.
The magnesium and calcium in my body were attacking each other at this point. Despite the war I felt going on in my body, I was still expected to work and perform as a college student. This was among the hardest parts of all. I had experienced chronic illness struggles tied to my education previously. Unlike then, however, I wasn’t 15 minutes away from my healthcare facility. I was six hours away from the place I called home and the place where I could find comfort in knowing I would be able to find answers to my problems.
My advice to HU Administration? Please install water softeners on every faucet to better the water quality. I understand that sometimes this is challenging in some geographical areas. Albeit, this is the health of your students we are talking about. That is ultimately more important. ★
Madi Fleury is a junior studying music (general studies) and criminal justice. She is involved in Houghton Choir and Dance Club. She enjoys spending time with her dear friends on campus and collecting stuffed animals along the way.
