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We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health

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Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health

#41

Post by currysausage »

beambot wrote: post #21
jobu wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was elementary school age I saw some older kids at the park taking turns peeing on a drinking fountain (and laughing). I have used public drinking fountains since, but only when the need was severe. There has to be a better option.

Reminds me of the Parks & Rec episode where they're trying to prevent residents from putting their mouths entirely around the fountain's spout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujpnXoMeXmY Hilarious.

Hilarious indeed. The most vertigo-inducing cinematography that I have seen in a while though.

Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health

#42

Post by digi_owl »

davidw wrote: post #28

I've always found it kind of funny that in "capitalist" US, there is free water all over the place. It's one of my favorite things to drink good, clean water for free in Portland after getting off a long flight from Europe. In "socialist" Europe, you're pretty much stuck with expensive bottled water in places like airports, unless you have a cup or something and don't mind drinking from the bathroom faucets. OTOH, on…

I think you can thank the security theater for that, at least in airports...

Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health

#43

Post by qnaal »

jarcoal wrote: post #39
Frondo wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Portland, Oregon has them all over: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benson_Bubbler

Indeed! I haven't seen a "normal" drinking fountain in Portland in ages. That said, I have seen homeless people do unspeakable things with them, so my trust is rattled.

"hobo bidets" we call them

Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health

#44

Post by allendoerfer »

European capitalism destroying old American traditions and cultures just sounds wrong to your ears when you are so used to the narrative of McDonald’s and Hollywood taking over the world.

In Germany I think I saw a dedicated drinking fountain only once. There are of course fountains, but most of the time there is a sign on them saying "Kein Trinkwasser" ("no drinking water"). We have exceptionally good tap water and I think only very few Germans fear to drink it. I notice it every time I brush my teeth in another country, it just tastes bad. So they got us with another trick: Germans are just used to sparkling water.

That is a valuable lock-in lesson: Add an unimportant but prominent usage-detail to your product as long as your customers need it so when an alternative comes along they are just used to it and too lazy to switch. Works best when your customers are children.

Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health

#45

Post by dogma1138 »

davidw wrote: post #28

I've always found it kind of funny that in "capitalist" US, there is free water all over the place. It's one of my favorite things to drink good, clean water for free in Portland after getting off a long flight from Europe. In "socialist" Europe, you're pretty much stuck with expensive bottled water in places like airports, unless you have a cup or something and don't mind drinking from the bathroom faucets. OTOH, on…

There are water fountains in every airport in Europe (and pretty much the world, it's regulatory) they are usually located in or near the restrooms.

Not to mention that pretty much every restaurant will give you tap water for free.

Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health

#46

Post by refurb »

Someone1234 wrote: post #12
jscheel wrote: post #6

Yeah, I stopped drinking at water fountains after I realized that half the kids I saw drinking from them were practically swallowing the spigot whole. It's not tap water I'm afraid of, it's the distribution device. It's a attractive breeding-ground for every form of nasty.

If you don't touch it with your mouth and run it for a few seconds you'll be just fine. Also the human body spends all day killing most common bacteria, mold, and similar. You don't even know it is happening. If you got sick every time you came in contact with another person's bodily fluids then you'd be sick almost daily, you'd certainly never go out to eat again, or ride public transport. My point is, your fears ar…

This is a great point.

It's like the people that open the restroom door with a paper towel. They must realize that the people who don't was their hands touch all the other doorknobs as well?

I'd guess the bathroom door is probably the cleanest knob you'd encounter (since lots of people wash their hands before leaving).

Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health

#47

Post by dragonwriter »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #29
NhanH wrote: post #2

When I first came to US, I didn't mind drinking public fountain. But one day, I walked by one and a dog was drinking from it, licking all over it in the process. From that day onward, I stopped. Still, I have to wonder: is that reasonable of me? And otherwise, is it expected to let your pet sharing the same water source with human?

Given the abrasive nature of the dog's tongue and the anti-septic nature of its saliva, if the fountain wasn't clean before the dog used it, it certainly was afterwards. But it doesn't really matter if the outside of the fountain is clean or not as long as you don't actually put your mouth on the fountain. All you care about is the water pipes inside the fountain, and those are just as clean as water pipes any where…

>Given the abrasive nature of the dog's tongue and the anti-septic nature of its saliva

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/dogmouth.asp

> All you care about is the water pipes inside the fountain, and those are just as clean as water pipes any where else.

I don't see why they would be, especially on the end close to the outlet. I mean, lots of water pipes don't have an open end, facing upward and at angle, exposed to the outdoor environment. Sure, water fountains have shields over the outlet to minimize environmental contaminants entering them, but the fact that they are in a position to need them is an issue.

Now, it may be that in normal use the additional contamination doesn't significant additional danger (I'd expect this to be true inversely with frequency of use, all else being equal), but I wouldn't think it would be "as clean as water pipes anywhere else".

Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health

#48

Post by scintill76 »

dogma1138 wrote: post #45
davidw wrote: post #28

I've always found it kind of funny that in "capitalist" US, there is free water all over the place. It's one of my favorite things to drink good, clean water for free in Portland after getting off a long flight from Europe. In "socialist" Europe, you're pretty much stuck with expensive bottled water in places like airports, unless you have a cup or something and don't mind drinking from the bathroom faucets. OTOH, on…

There are water fountains in every airport in Europe (and pretty much the world, it's regulatory) they are usually located in or near the restrooms. Not to mention that pretty much every restaurant will give you tap water for free.

I was flatly told "no" when I asked for tap water at a restaurant in Italy. The waitress seemed a little disgusted I would ask, too. I've heard some peoples have an aversion to tap water even if it's become safe these days, so I guess it was that, or maybe some kind of miscommunication.

Maybe she just thought it has a bad taste, but it can't have been bad enough that I'd prefer paying 2-3 euros for bottled water.

Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health

#49

Post by duderific »

knodi123 wrote: post #33
ra1n85 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it's reasonable of you. The burden of proof is on the water fountain (or more specifically, the designers of the water fountain) as to whether drinking from it is safe. This is not a problem with being overly cautious. This is a problem with an antiquated design.

The design is not antiquated; actually it's pretty brilliant. However, if the water pressure is insufficient, the main protection doesn't work. And that's distressingly common.

Nine times out of ten, when I go to a water fountain, it's barely a trickle, so I'd have to put my mouth right on the spout to get any water. After this happening a number of times, you sort of give up after a while.

Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health

#50

Post by cjensen »

Not mentioned is that much of the tap water in the US tastes much worse than it did 30 years ago due to increased standards which require water districts to add more and more cleaning agents to the water. Cleaner tap water leads to greater use of less-clean bottled water.
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