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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

#81

Post by joshstrange »

nosuchthing wrote: post #5

Been seeing these water bottle refill stations pop up around: http://blog.hughessupply.com/files/2011/11/EZH2O_Single_L_Fi...

These things are awesome and I wish they were more places. I always carry my water bottle with me and just refill it. It carries twice and some of what a normal water bottle costs and is more convenient to use. I do use the bottled water machine most of the time because it's cooled and we don't have ice or I'd use the tap. I only use the tap at home.

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

#82

Post by contingencies »

In some parts of China, (frequently older) people routinely spend an hour or more lugging empty bottles up mountain paths to natural springs in order to gather spring water for drinking. (The character for a spring is 泉 which is water 水 beneath a 白 which means something like white/clear/plain but was allegedly originally a pictograph of an acorn!)

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

#83

Post by contingencies »

SilasX wrote: post #77
brohoolio wrote: post #76

The primary reasons I don't drink from water fountains often are there isn't enough water pressure and it feels like you have to kiss the fountain to get water or someone spit in the fountain. Solve those two problems and people will use them like crazy. At U of M the fountains are everywhere. They even have little Counters saying how many bottles of water they have saved.

This. Most fountains I find are broken or way underpowered.

Mounting them upside-down might help with the power problem.

Another issue is the run-off, often the base of them is surrounded by muddy mess, bowls for dogs to drink out of, whatever. Proper drainage and some awareness of less common use cases would also be important.

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

#84

Post by deskglass »

frenchies wrote: post #71
dogma1138 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Name any commercial or international airport without water fountains.

All of the ones in China? I dont remember any there but maybe I was just used to not seeing any anywhere else in the country so I wasnt looking for them. I also dont recall drinking fountains in Phnom Penh or Saigon's airports.

Beijing airport had water fountains despite the water not being good to drink and traditional Chinese culture having a stigma against drinking cold water.

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

#85

Post by asillystory »

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.

People in NYC use water fountains as bidets for their dogs so

http://gothamist.com/2014/06/12/water_fountain_or_dog_bidet....

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

#86

Post by wmil »

blacksmith_tb wrote: post #53
jarcoal wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I often see crows drinking out of them, which I find endearing, but others might look askance at.

I'd be worried if the crows refused to drink from them.

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

#87

Post by jerrysievert »

jsprogrammer wrote: post #64
Frondo wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

100k gallons of potable water per day.

yup. water that is passing through the pipes is simply moving from the mountains to the ocean (and producing electricity [1]). whether they go through the bubblers or route around via the rivers is less consequence.

[1] http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/drinking-water-pipes-can-also...

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

#88

Post by Tehnix »

In Denmark I rarely, if ever, see water fountains. If I saw one, I would never drink from it. For me, personally, it's a sanitary issue. There also seems to be studies that link them with pathogens and bacteria, wikipedia links to some[0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_fountain#Cleanliness

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

#89

Post by ahoge »

nosuchthing wrote: post #5

Been seeing these water bottle refill stations pop up around: http://blog.hughessupply.com/files/2011/11/EZH2O_Single_L_Fi...

The one at my local university dispenses chilled water with light carbonation. I wish I had one of those at home. Tap water doesn't get any fancier than this.

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

#90

Post by barry-cotter »

frenchies wrote: post #71
dogma1138 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Name any commercial or international airport without water fountains.

All of the ones in China? I dont remember any there but maybe I was just used to not seeing any anywhere else in the country so I wasnt looking for them. I also dont recall drinking fountains in Phnom Penh or Saigon's airports.

Every train station and airport I've been in in my three years here has had a place to get hot water. If you want cold water in a train station you'll have to buy it bottled but Pudong airport in Shanghai has water fountains outside most of the bathrooms as well. I've never flown out of any other Chinese airports.
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