By Tucker Paquette
@tpaquette17
As someone who doesn’t typically pay much mind to everyday inconveniences, I am not usually fazed by the things that other people get worked up over.
Stuck in traffic? I have music I can play to pass the time. Long line to get Dunkin’? Waiting 10 extra minutes won’t mark the end of the world.
So with this in mind, I didn’t expect to feel so strongly about the use of the sprinkler systems at Springfield College. This seemingly is something that I would briefly consider and then move on from, just like the examples above.
However, there is something so impractical and so unnecessary about how these sprinklers are used that I can’t get past this particular nuisance without venting a little bit first.
The sprinklers, located at various locations on campus, including outside Weiser Hall and between Cheney and Judd Gymnasium, rotate when they are turned on. Naturally, this presents a problem.
When the sprinklers are facing the grass, that makes sense. Grass needs water to grow and flourish – I’m not here to argue with proven science.
When the sprinklers aren’t facing the grass, however, they’re facing the sidewalk. And that makes no sense.
On several occasions this semester, I’ve been walking down Alden Street or cutting behind Judd to return to my dorm in the Living Center, and I’ve seen the sprinklers aiming directly at the sidewalk, dousing the walkway and the edge of the road in water.
I understand that the sprinklers may malfunction sometimes or that a wider patch of grass might require the sprinkler to rotate for a complete watering.
But it just seems so silly to me that the sprinklers are aimed at sidewalks – sidewalks that not only don’t need water to begin with, but that have people regularly walking on them.
I can personally attest that being sprayed by those sprinklers isn’t particularly enjoyable. And while most people would probably say a nice mist isn’t the worst feeling on a warm, sunny day, I’d venture to guess that the aftermath – walking around campus with your clothes soaked in water – doesn’t evoke quite the same level of excitement.
If being hit by the sprinklers when it’s nice out is a mixed bag, however, then that happening while it’s raining would be much, much worse.
Surely the sprinklers aren’t on while everything on campus (and in the entire Springfield area) is receiving a natural watering though, correct?
Wrong.
Last week, while a steady precipitation was already giving the grass (and the sidewalks) more than enough nourishment, the sprinklers were on as well, chipping in and doing their part.
I’m not sure how much help the sprinklers were in this case or how necessary their presence was to begin with, but that didn’t stop them.
In a sense, this instance perfectly embodies my thoughts on the sprinklers at Springfield College: they are useful and even welcome when they are working in a logical manner, but often something or another is going on with them that defies said logic.
If the sprinklers were always positioned on the grass and they were used depending on the weather, that would be fantastic. Myself and pretty much everyone on campus would sign up for that in a heartbeat.
It’s the timing and direction of their usage, though, that irks myself and others who go about their day-to-day lives on the same streets the sprinklers spray.
After all, if I wanted to have an increased chance of being drenched in water, I could simply go to my local Six Flags.
(Photo by Tucker Paquette/The Student)