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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

#161

Post by DonHopkins »

chobo wrote: post #151
MrJagil wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really disagree. Coming from Denmark, having lived in NYC for 6 months, it was exactly as the parent described it: As if drinking out of a swimming pool. Further, even the salads at restaurants could taste terrible because of the water they used to rinse it.

Funny you should say that. I'm in NYC and I like the tap water. When I travel--like to Texas recently--I can't drink the tap water, it tastes horrible to me. And New Yorkers take a lot of pride in our water actually, it tastes hugely different from most of the rest of the country. Goes to show how personal taste is I guess.

You have to burn off all the fracking compounds before drinking Texas tap water.

http://www.newsweek.com/fracking-wells-tainting-drinking-wat...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B9-tmudFg0

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

#162

Post by LukeB_UK »

chimprich wrote: post #139
lucozade wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In UK train stations this is so that they can pay for attendants in the lavatories. When I was growing up this wasn't the case and they were the hangout of some, ahem, undesirable folk. You most definitely wouldn't have sent a child down on their own. They'd end up with an audience...

Toilets in most UK stations are free. Only in London and some other larger cities have they adopted this anti-social practice.

They're usually free once you're past the ticket barriers in the cities.

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

#163

Post by VLM »

How sterile are water reservoirs and lakes? My guess is they're full of pooping and dying fish, bugs, god knows what. The big city nearby me pump drinking water out of the same lake they pump treated and untreated sewage into. The suburb I live in at least uses well water. My point is if the source of the water is full of living and dead animals and bugs then worrying about homeless people peeing on the fountain remains gross but is no longer a serious concern. Pumping that same water into a bottle and charging a large amount of money for it doesn't make the problem go away either.

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

#164

Post by coldpie »

thisjepisje wrote: post #158
JupiterMoon wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I do like the fact that you can get free water almost everywhere, there was often a large can and cups on the bar, free to take. Here a tap water is sometimes as expensive as a beer (in a bar obviously). Wow in most of Europe this would not be legal. Are you sure your local laws allow this?

What I encounter in Dutch restaurants is that they give you (sometimes ridiculously expensive) bottled water when you ask for 'water', and when you ask for 'tap water' they say they only serve bottled water.

Yeah. The lack of complimentary water at restaurants is probably my biggest complaint about traveling in Europe. When I sit down, I want a big damn glass of water immediately. This is the standard in the US, and I really miss it in Europe. Like you said, even ordering water is a trial when you don't speak the language. Learning "water" isn't hard, but remembering between it and "tap water" is hard, and the waiter has a decent excuse for failing to get your order right. And they usually treat you like cheap scum for failing to order an expensive drink. Ugh.

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

#165

Post by deathhand »

jaggederest wrote: post #121
deathhand wrote: post #109

I don't trust municipal water sources because of the endocrine disruptors. http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/2010/02/t20100225a.html

What, do you think a plastic bottle isn't leaching things into the water?

No- As long as the bottles arent subjected to heat or direct sunlight: http://web.archive.org/web/20050830052647/http://www.jhsph.e...

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

#166

Post by DonHopkins »

raverbashing wrote: post #100
jpatokal wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dublin, or at least the non-Schengen bit of it. Even the restroom taps are set to warm water only. One potential hack around this is to find the disabled bathroom, which usually has taps with adjustable water temperature,

The non-Schengen part of Dublin Airport, you mean, all of it? Ireland is not in the Schengen area

If the Irish lived in Holland, they'd drown, If the Dutch lived in Ireland, they'd feed the world.

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

#167

Post by jon-wood »

Jacqued wrote: post #134
secabeen wrote: post #4

I grew up in LA, where water is scarce, and valued. Water fountains are around, but they have valves, which break, stick, or otherwise cause problems. When I lived in Chicago, I was shocked to see that their water fountains have no valves: They run full flow 24x7. Given the weather (frozen pipes) and the water resources available to Chicago (Lake Michigan), it makes sense for them to do it this way, but I had a lot o…

In Paris we have these too, the famous Wallace Fountains, and most of them just run all the time. Other kinds of fountains have valves though, like the ones which provide sparkling water. And I can guarantee people are using them, in the evening there's frequently a line of people waiting to fill their bottles.

There's something very French about having water fountains which give sparkling water.

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

#168

Post by deathhand »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #128
deathhand wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new fear is endocrine disruptors in municipal water. http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/2010/02/t20100225a.html

Yes, but doesn't the plastic in the disposable bottles also contain the same risk, among other issues?

Environmental concerns aside, Plastic only leaches when exposed to direct sunlight/heat: http://web.archive.org/web/20050830052647/http://www.jhsph.e...

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

#169

Post by griffinmb »

chobo wrote: post #151
MrJagil wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really disagree. Coming from Denmark, having lived in NYC for 6 months, it was exactly as the parent described it: As if drinking out of a swimming pool. Further, even the salads at restaurants could taste terrible because of the water they used to rinse it.

Funny you should say that. I'm in NYC and I like the tap water. When I travel--like to Texas recently--I can't drink the tap water, it tastes horrible to me. And New Yorkers take a lot of pride in our water actually, it tastes hugely different from most of the rest of the country. Goes to show how personal taste is I guess.

The water in Greenpoint, though, is notoriously bad.

edit - Greenpoint, the neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY for any who don't know.

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

#170

Post by sambe »

JupiterMoon wrote: post #114
teekert wrote: post #106

I always drink tap water here in the Netherlands, in the US where I have been (Houston, New Orleans, Boston, Long Beach) the water just tastes like it came from a swimming pool. So much chlorine, I couldn't drink it. In San Fransisco it was relatively ok though, still a faint chlorine taste but drinkable. I understand the difficulty of maintaining such a large water distribution net but I certainly switch to bottled…

> I do like the fact that you can get free water almost everywhere, there was often a large can and cups on the bar, free to take. Here a tap water is sometimes as expensive as a beer (in a bar obviously). Wow in most of Europe this would not be legal. Are you sure your local laws allow this?

I've frequently been told that it's illegal but most European countries that I've lived in or visit don't act like it's illegal. Some places' worst bars even have signs up that suggest they will not help you if you aren't paying.

Are you sure it's not legal? I increasingly get the feeling that this is an urban myth based on wishful thinking.

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