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The drinking fountain button

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Re: The drinking fountain button

#121

Post by mynameisnoone »

bombcar wrote: post #78
weinzierl wrote: post #32

"Who among us hasn’t walked up to a drinking fountain, expecting a bubbling stream of life-giving water, only to experience the crushing disappointment of a measly trickle after smashing in that button?" That'd be me. I traveled quite a bit all over the world and these seem to be a pretty American thing. It's also a bit strange because for the countries that have them it is generally not recommended to drink tap wate…

From my travels the USA is way more concerned with water-saving devices, even in areas where there really is no water conservatory problems. Toilets in Europe will still seem to flush using the full power of Niagara Falls, which are quite rare in the US now.

The style of toilet matters in the US. The problem is that the cheapest toilets tend to also meet all sorts of greenwashing (no pun intended) certifications while being unreliable, smaller, and not very good. Tankless ones are far more expensive initially, but are more reliable, flush with greater force, and use little water.

Re: The drinking fountain button

#122

Post by radlad »

weinzierl wrote: post #118
icambron wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not quite following; are you saying it's not recommended that you drink American tap water? Or that there are bunch of other countries with sketchier water full of drinking fountains?

I would not drink American tap water, at least not in the cities that I travelled. It always smelt like chlorine and from what I googled apparently up to 4 milligrams per liter are regularly allowed in the US. This is definitely not a thing in western Europe. We don't need to talk about the things that you cannot taste or smell and what happened in Flint.

> It always smells like chlorine and from what I googled apparently up to 4 milligrams per liter are regularly allowed in the US.

Why is this a problem? Flavor? This is certainly different than places like Mexico, where the tap water isn't potable.

> We don't need to talk about the things that you cannot taste or smell and what happened in Flint.

If we're talking about unknown unknowns, this is true of anywhere in the world.

Re: The drinking fountain button

#123

Post by solardev »

walthamstow wrote: post #111
plutoh28 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider getting a water bottle?

Why do you think it's a good thing that I must have a bottle with me in order to drink from a public water fountain? To be clear, I think fountains should do both direct drink and bottle fill-up.

Is it common where you live to only have the bottle fill up? Every time I've seen them in Oregon, California, Washington, and Illinois, there's either a drinking fountain right under it or within a few steps' distance away.

Re: The drinking fountain button

#124

Post by solardev »

mrWiz wrote: post #71
alistairSH wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What countries do have them? In the US, they seem to exist in offices and schools. Airports tend to have them, and often with a bottle filler on the side, which is great since we can't carry water through security. But, just walking down the street, truly public water? Is that a thing anywhere in the US, or elsewhere?

They're also common in airports, malls, parks, and libraries. I can't think of any other spaces that typically have them.

Just to throw a few more out there: Hospitals, gyms, walkable food courts/outdoor pedestrian malls, college campuses, stadiums, visitor centers, rail stations, offices, cafeterias, parking garages, movie theaters, car dealers, warehouse stores, some grocery stores... where I live, basically every public space where people are expected to loiter will often have one, usually right by the bathrooms.

Re: The drinking fountain button

#125

Post by HeatrayEnjoyer »

bombcar wrote: post #78
weinzierl wrote: post #32

"Who among us hasn’t walked up to a drinking fountain, expecting a bubbling stream of life-giving water, only to experience the crushing disappointment of a measly trickle after smashing in that button?" That'd be me. I traveled quite a bit all over the world and these seem to be a pretty American thing. It's also a bit strange because for the countries that have them it is generally not recommended to drink tap wate…

From my travels the USA is way more concerned with water-saving devices, even in areas where there really is no water conservatory problems. Toilets in Europe will still seem to flush using the full power of Niagara Falls, which are quite rare in the US now.

Europe doesn't have the water scarcity issues of the US. When my brother in law from Germany visited a few summers ago he was shocked by the amount of drought news and water conservation instructions broadcast daily on TV.

Re: The drinking fountain button

#126

Post by seszett »

jajko wrote: post #48
planede wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switzerland has a lot in my experience. At least the few cities that I visited. They are also very well mapped on openstreetmap, so it was easy to search for a nearby one with osmand whenever I was thirsty.

I presume you mean regular small to tiny fountains. Yes very frequent here, my small village has at least 5 of those. Unless there is an explicit sign that its not drinkable all have drinking water. Good thing indeed, but then you go ie to France where you have sometimes such fountains too, and often reverse applies - don't drink unless its singed as drinkable.

The rule is the same if France though. Water is drinkable by default and will be signed "eau non potable" if it isn't (and even then it usually means it's never tested, not that it's unsafe).

Re: The drinking fountain button

#127

Post by solardev »

piskov wrote: post #11
082349872349872 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It amazes me that 1960s Moscow had drinking fountains with shared glasses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F68bbzOOOdY&t=1850s What were they thinking?

These are not fountains but glorified watercoolers with sparkling water and, sometimes, lemonade. Most of the time they were not free although very cheap: 1 copeck. These survived up to the 1995, several years after the fall. And yes, most glasses have never been stolen. Shared glasses were quite safe because every machine had special button to clean the glass with pressurized technical water (several calibrated jets…

What is pressurized "technical" water?

Re: The drinking fountain button

#128

Post by matwood »

Johnny555 wrote: post #106
TeMPOraL wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You use more water flushing, or more water scrubbing your hands, after having to scrub your toilet due to insufficient flushing pressure.

Sounds like you need a better designed toilet. Good low flow toilets do exist. We replaced the old 3.5 gallons per flush toilet in our house with a new Kohler 1.28gpf unit and it flushes and clears the bowl just fine - no worse than the previous toilet with about 1/3rd the water use.

EU toilets are often of the 'poop shelf' design. Which end up requiring cleaning and multiple flushes after every bowel movement.

Re: The drinking fountain button

#129

Post by seszett »

lambdaxyzw wrote: post #23
piskov wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are not fountains but glorified watercoolers with sparkling water and, sometimes, lemonade. Most of the time they were not free although very cheap: 1 copeck. These survived up to the 1995, several years after the fall. And yes, most glasses have never been stolen. Shared glasses were quite safe because every machine had special button to clean the glass with pressurized technical water (several calibrated jets…

>It’s only after the fall of the Soviet Union that shit with plastic poured into. As well with the fall of recycling, morals, etc. Soviet Union was green not because of morals, but because it was poor and couldn't afford single use packages. I remember when Nutella entered my country, the empty Nutella jars were washed, kept and used as glasses for drinking - because buying new glasses was hard or expensive. >And yes…

> the empty Nutella jars were washed, kept and used as glasses for drinking - because buying new glasses was hard or expensive.

I think it's quite common and not especially linked to poverty.

For the smaller containers with a snap on lid only though, because the large Nutella jars with a screw on lid are unsuitable for glasses, but they can contain sauces, paint, screws or nails.

Re: The drinking fountain button

#130

Post by rmason »

radlad wrote: post #120
Johnny555 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

even in areas where there really is no water conservatory problems Is there really an area that never faces water conservation measures? Even normally wet Washington State is facing a drought due warm weather resulting in lower than normal snowpack, which is where much of the drinking water comes from. https://m.kuow.org/stories/washington-state-drought-emergenc...

Living in/near Michigan all my life and water conservation has never really been a concern, except when it comes to uproars over things like Nestle sourcing water from the Great Lakes.

Live in Michigan as well. I think we are making a huge mistake conserving water as if is scarce. We act as if water is short and about to run out. We should instead celebrate our advantage over other areas where it is in short supply.
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