After Harvard students begged for dryness during last week's torrential downpours, water flow decreased not only from the skies, but also from an unexpected source as well—the water dispensers in the campus d-halls.

For the past few weeks, these machines—which provide cold water, room-temp water, and seltzer—have stopped functioning to continuously dispense your H2O. Previously, you could leave a glass under the running machine, fulfill another task, and then return to find your glass filled with no manual effort involved.

Now, students are now required to babysit their DAPA Nalgenes and keep one hand on the switch at all times in order to achieve a filled container with their choice of water.

Why the change? We at FlyBy thought there may have been an epic story of a dining hall flood to blame,  or that the environmental groups had decided to bring reform to water dispensing at Harvard. Apparently, the modification came for a much less exciting reason.

“It was a temporary change made by the service guy," wrote Crista Martin, HUDS Director for Marketing & Communications, in an e-mailed statement, "but they’re all going back to either/or."

This may be good news for all of the lazy students out there. But until then, here are some (potentially) exciting finger exercises to keep you ready for the challenge of actually working to get your water.

Photo by H. Zane B. Wruble, Crimson Staff Writer.