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The drinking fountain button
- tichiian 2y agoI wish Europe had any drinking fountains. Even extremely-high-traffic public areas such as airports and train stations have but a few or (usually) none.
- gwervc 2y agoIt has. Which part of Europe are you talking about?
- tichiian 2y agoI've been to Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Spain and France. Only France had a few in touristy beach areas. The total low is Germany, where the whole country has only 1300 (given ~100 cities with >100k ppl, that is just a ridiculous 13 per large city): https://www.bmuv.de/pressemitteilung/staedte-und-gemeinden-muessen-trinkwasser-im-oeffentlichen-raum-kostenlos-bereitstellen https://www.bmuv.de/pressemitteilung/staedte-und-gemeinden-m...
- tokai 2y agoYou sure you checked all of Scandinavia?
- martijnarts 2y agoAmsterdam Schiphol Airport has drinking fountains at most if not all toilets[0]. There's been a short period recently apparently where they were getting replaced and so were unavailable. The city of Amsterdam has 500 fountains or bottle filling stations[1]. The rest of the country has at least 2400 more[2]. [0]: https://www.wateratairports.com/topic/schiphol-airport-ams/ https://www.wateratairports.com/topic/schiphol-airport-ams/ [1]: https://www.waternet.nl/service-en-contact/drinkwater/gratis-openbaar-drinkwater/ https://www.waternet.nl/service-en-contact/drinkwater/gratis... [2]: https://drinkwaterkaart.nl/waar-kan-ik-gratis-water-tappen/ https://drinkwaterkaart.nl/waar-kan-ik-gratis-water-tappen/
- themoonisachees 2y agoI don't know what's wrong with your tap water in the US but here we generally drink that and didn't invent "a tap, but slower".
- artimaeis 2y agoWhen you're in public what taps are you drinking from?
- gadflyinyoureye 2y agoThe ones marked “non potable water”. You know like you those next to gas station pumps.
- 082349872349872 2y agoIt amazes me that 1960s Moscow had drinking fountains with shared glasses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F68bbzOOOdY&t=1850s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F68bbzOOOdY&t=1850s What were they thinking?
- piskov 2y agoThese 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) with some chlorine in it. People cleaned the glass with it before pouring soda water. USSR has been eco/green paradise: no plastic bags or wraps. Meat was wrapped in paper. Milk, butter and sour cream were poured into whatever container buyer had provided. Glass bottles, paper and alike have been routinely recycled mostly by kids as there was small payment for bringing that stuff. 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. (say what you will about hollywood films of the 90s — nothing upstanding about it).
- hobs 2y agoEco/Green paradise? Plastic isn't the only poison, the USSR was happy to create plenty of industrial poison - Lake Karachay is a great example. "The former Soviet Union was the world's second largest producer of harmful emissions. Total emissions in the USSR in 1988 were about 79% of the US total. Considering that the Soviet GNP was only some 54% of that of the USA, this means that the Soviet Union generated 1.5 times more pollution than the USA per unit of GNP" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0959378094900035 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/095937...
- piskov 2y agoI wasn’t talking about industrial but your usual Ivan. Just think about how many garbage is produced by a family every day. As for your article, I don’t have access to the PDF, so I cannot verify it. The place I grew up sometimes I could see Elbrus even though it is almost 300 km away. That’s for air pollution. > in the early 1990s the air pollution became an issue of great public attention This as well may be the coordinated effort to bring down every remnant of Soviet industrial force. You have no idea how many factories have been deliberately bring to their knees and closed down by “effective” new management. The same way “green” policy is used today for economic warfare (just to think Germany being so stupid as to close their nuclear plants).
- surgical_fire 2y agoRome had plenty last time I went there.
- justincormack 2y agoIn the UK they were initially created by the temperance movement, I ended up starting this wiki article years ago. Sadly many are no longer functioning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Drinking_Fountain_and_Cattle_Trough_Association https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Drinking_Fountain...
- iamacyborg 2y agoThames Water have been installing free water bottle refill stations around London for a few years now. Also maybe less of an issue over here as you can generally just ask for a free glass of tap water in most places that serve drinks.
- gadflyinyoureye 2y agoAs a tourist I would never do that. It had for me to picture walking into a McDonald’s for a cup of water.
- antisthenes 2y agoWhy??? It's literally rule 0 of hospitality, to offer those in need a glass of water. The only way it's awkward is if the place is very busy.
- planede 2y agoSwitzerland 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.
- jajko 2y agoI 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.
- seszett 2y agoThe 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).
- globular-toast 2y agoPublic toilets too. I just don't understand how all these people are walking around all day without being able to drink or use the toilet. Fair enough if it's acceptable to go behind a bush or something, but apparently it isn't.
- lambdaxyzw 2y agoYou can pay for both. And most people are not walking around all day, just traveling between two places.
- IncreasePosts 2y agoIn morocco, we have restaurants with sinks near the front, exactly like a sink you might find in a bathroom in a house, and next to that sink is a copper cup attached by a chain to the wall. And people are free to come in and drink from that. I always wondered why the humble fountain wasn't more popular
- BobaFloutist 2y agoMaybe the water waste in fountains feels worse in drought-prone regions? Even if the amount is comparably tiny, watching a precious resource just vanish down the drain might be hard to stomach? I'm basing this on nothing, by the way, but it feels like a fun hypothesis.
- bombcar 2y agoI've seen drinking fountains in the desert; it may be more that they just don't have a ready supply of them in Morocco, but sinks abound. Often the fountain will just drain into the dirt nearby, which means it is often the only green area when it's a desert fountain.
- alistairSH 2y agoWhat 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?
- progman32 2y agoMaybe not at every intersection, but almost all parks around me have at least one. At least that's my experience in California and Washington State.
- kube-system 2y agoIt is not uncommon for public parks to have them in the US
- mrWiz 2y agoThey're also common in airports, malls, parks, and libraries. I can't think of any other spaces that typically have them.
- solardev 2y agoJust 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.
- Balgair 2y agoWait, what US cities are you in that do not have public fountains in parks and whatnot? I'm struggling to think of any parks or high pedestrian areas around me that don't have a public fountain, nor in any of the cities I've lived in. Like, yeah, you're not going to have a fountain out in the middle of a parking lot. But they, to my recollection, seem to be everywhere that people tend to be walking a lot. As for Europe, they also tend to be in a lot of high pedestrian areas, but really only in southern Europe (Italy, Spain, etc). In northern Europe it seems that everyone is just fine with being constantly dehydrated.
- nanidin 2y agoThey are all over Rome.
- 2024throwaway 2y agoThe headline is click bait, nothing about it is misunderstood. I generally enjoy esoterica, but can’t believe I just read a whole article that amounts to “those buttons are buttons”.
- danyala 2y agoIt does make a little more sense when considered alongside its sibling entries in the long-running series ‘Button of the Month’
- sgarland 2y agoThey’re not, though. They’re button-activated valves with a fairly complicated flow path, integrated screen, extremely high lifecycle, and pressure regulation to deal with a wide range (one spec I saw said 30-90 psig) of water pressure, all while being contained in a single cartridge for easy replacement. The details of everyday items are fascinating.
- lupire 2y agoThe title is garbage, but the article is good and the mechanism of the water fountain is amazing.
- sdwr 2y agoWhile we're complaining, does anyone else think the button mechanism is too complicated? That diagram has 50 annotations, which seems like too many for a button. I know nothing about fabrication or physical engineering, but surely it can't be that hard to make it simpler, like a safety pin or a <second thing>. Not a joke. Thanks.
- kube-system 2y agoIt has a lot of annotations because the diagram is detailed, not because the item is particularly complicated. https://www.homedepot.com/p/EZ-FLO-Drinking-Fountain-Universal-Bubbler-Faucet-Cartridge-10345LF/205807767 https://www.homedepot.com/p/EZ-FLO-Drinking-Fountain-Univers... https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/27/1d/b6/2f0ca95408491b/US2860397-drawings-page-1.png https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/27/1d/b6/2f0ca95...
- walthamstow 2y agoI miss water fountains that you can drink directly from, as opposed to those that can only fill up a bottle. There's one outside Blackhorse Road tube that only does the latter, you have to contort yourself to drink directly from it and people will look at you like you're mad.
- plutoh28 2y agoConsider getting a water bottle?
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- walthamstow 2y agoWhy 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.
- ghaff 2y agoAnd my experience conventions, even when they give out water bottles in the initial swag bag, is people mostly just want to grab a disposable plastic bottle. I’m actually fine with tap water most of the time but I want to carry a bottle to sessions etc.
- solardev 2y agoIs 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.
- softsound 2y ago
- chrsw 2y agoWhere I'm from those fountains rarely even worked.
- SoftTalker 2y agoWhen I lived in Chicago the public water fountains just ran all the time. There was no button. The city is right on Lake Michigan so they have an abundant supply of fresh water. As I understand it, for many years they did not even meter water for residential service, you just paid a flat fee every month.
- dredmorbius 2y agoUnmetered water service is (or was) common in, of all places, California's Central Valley, including the cities of Sacramento, Bakersfield, Modesto, Merced, and Lodi, legacy of the state's rather arcane (and highly nonscientific and environmentally hostile) Spanish-based water rights laws. Unsurprisingly, when meters were installed, even where billing wasn't based on usage, massive wastage through broken infrastructure was rapidly discovered, an interesting example of "what isn't measured cannot be managed". See: <https://www.kqed.org/science/15191/california-communities-that-pay-a-flat-rate-for-water-use-more-of-it https://www.kqed.org/science/15191/california-communities-th...> and <https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article201568164.html https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article201568164.html> Other regions without use-metered water include parts of the UK, and Asia where the concept is called "non-revenue water (NRW)": UK: <https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/your-water-bill/unmetered/ https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/your-water-bill/unmetere...> Asia: <https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jscejer/76/7/76_III_277/_pdf https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jscejer/76/7/76_III_277...> (PDF). NRW: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-revenue_water https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-revenue_water>
- organsnyder 2y agoOur service is metered over on the other side of the lake (Grand Rapids, MI), but I can only remember a couple of times we've had to restrict water usage (odd-even sprinkling was the worst of it) in the almost 40 years I can remember. Lake Michigan is a hell of a reservoir.
- weinzierl 2y ago"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 water and for the few countries where tap water is considered safe to drink they are virtually non-existent.
- bombcar 2y agoFrom 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.
- TeMPOraL 2y agoYou use more water flushing, or more water scrubbing your hands, after having to scrub your toilet due to insufficient flushing pressure.
- recursive 2y agoNot to mention, I often have to do 2 or 3 flushes after a more productive session, not to mention cleaning. Just like how I run the dryer twice on "hyper-giga-dry" if I actually want dry clothes.
- chiffre01 2y agoMaybe it's just me, but it looks like every fountain turned off during during the pandemic will never to be turned back on?
- faefox 2y agoNot at all true in my experience though I have seen a jump in the number of fountains with integrated hands-free bottle fillers (which is a win in my book).
- tnmom 2y agoJust you; in my comparatively sane state most were never turned off and those that were came back within a few months.
- Sane_And_Saner 2y ago[flagged]
- bombcar 2y agoEven around here there's a few that seem to still be off, and I think just because nobody ever bothered to complain or turn them back on. Someday I'll get arsed enough to figure out where the valve/plug is. Don't even get me started on water fountains that require power.
- organsnyder 2y agoAs someone who always keeps a carafe of ice water at my desk, I really appreciate the output of properly-maintained chilling water fountains.
- bombcar 2y agoI'm fine with chilling water fountains, I just wish they were designed so that they'd still dispense water without power.
- pjs_ 2y agoBold to post this on a website for people who are paid millions to make buttons on the computer
- openplatypus 2y agoMeanwhile in Germany: 0.50€ for tap water in restaurant No public drinking water facilities
- netsharc 2y agoSuuure... where are you in Germany? https://overpass-turbo.eu https://overpass-turbo.eu , the sample query is already for drinking fountains. I navigated so Berlin is on the map and clicked Run, and it shows me all drinking water fountains on the map. A few of them even have image links, for example: https://imgur.com/d6UheOw https://imgur.com/d6UheOw
- TylerE 2y agoI mean, I went two towns to the east to the decent sized town of Villanova and it only showed 3 for the entire town.
- rascul 2y agoNot about the button, but I am reminded of a Parks and Recreation clip about water fountain hygiene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoCOQb2u-N8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoCOQb2u-N8
- whartung 2y agoI always preferred the spring loaded knobs (or levers) that you twist compared to the buttons you press down. More leverage, easier to use and modulate if necessary.
- mynameisnoone 2y agoI remember those. 4-sided either rounded bulbs or paddles that blended into the central hub. The disadvantage is that they require fine motor control and so aren't accessible to all people. The problem though is that most of the pushbutton types tend to require too great of force to be usable by anyone. I prefer the crashbar button type that requires some force to engage but much less force to remain engaged.
- lukas099 2y agoLoss of water fountains hits me in the feels. Really representative of the erosion of the commons and public trust to me.