SOUTH KINGSTOWN — After nearly a week of drinking, brushing teeth and washing toothbrushes with bottled water only, and avoiding the water fountains on campus, water seems to be on everyone’s mind these days at the University of Rhode Island’s Kingston campus.

A boil-water advisory issued Sunday remains in effect, and one-liter Aquafina water bottles the university has given out all week to students and staff appear to be everywhere.

Tests last week turned up fecal coliform bacteria in the water system, which prompted the university to super-chlorinate the system, beginning last Friday.

The most recent water samples tested by the university’s lab –– taken Wednesday –– were negative for any bacteria. The advisory would be lifted if water samples three days in a row are negative for the bacteria, according to university officials. Today would be the third day.

Meanwhile, in its two dining halls, the university has shut down all soda fountain, and coffee and milk machines and sanitized them. They have not been put back into service, and the university is giving out water bottles and cartons of juice, spokesman David Lavallee said. Water fountains have signs posted on them that they’re not in service. A bottled-water station in the Memorial Union will remain open through today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for students, faculty and staff.

The bacteria was found during routine weekly tests in the Biological Sciences Center building, but it wasn’t confirmed until Sunday. The advisory is confined to the university’s water system, which is separate from the system that serves nearby communities.

Around campus, water is the topic of the day.

“This affects everyone,” said 20-year-old senior Benjamin Lamothe, of North Attleboro. “It’s the most abundant resource in the world, and you can’t even use it on campus.”

Bianca Parker, a 20-year-old sophomore from Providence, went home Monday so she could shower there and then return for her 11 a.m. class Tuesday.

“But I can’t go home every day,” she said.

Although the state Department of Health said the university’s water system — self-contained and separate from the system that serves area communities — remains safe for showering, bathing and washing, Parker was not the only student who felt as if showering in water that had been contaminated wasn’t a cleansing experience.

“I shower, and I feel dirty after I shower,” 20-year-old junior Hadyn Serby, of New Jersey, said.

Other students seemed less affected by the water issue, but they were still talking about it.

“I feel that they’re handling the situation very professionally,” freshman John Passa, of East Greenwich, said. “I know it’s not easy, but we are being supplied with bottled water.”

The lack of bacteria in the latest water samples “confirms that the super-chlorination of the system at the BSC [Biological Sciences Center] was effective,” according to the most recent statement issued by the university.

kbramson@projo.com