Are Water Fountains Fading?

With the incredible increase of bottled water consumption (9.67 billion gallons annually), has the public trust in water fountains begun to fade? A recent article in The Washington Post highlights the drinking water fountain and explores whether it’s possible “to make water fountains cool again.”

When public drinking water fountains first became popular in the mid-19^th century, the spread of contagious diseases was notable. The original ‘Bubbler’ water fountain design by Kohler Water Works (now #Kohler Company) sent water straight into the air, with the excess water running back down over the sides of the nozzle which contributed to the spread of disease. Several years later, the #Bubbler design was changed to the now current arched stream of water.

According to the #WashingtonPost article, “Fountains were once a revered feature of urban life, a celebration of the tremendous technological and political capital it takes to provide clean drinking water to a community. [But] today, they’re in crisis.”  Fountains have become the new pay phone, being phased out of community spaces, schools, and stadiums. “In short, we don’t trust public fountains anymore.”

The distrust of public water supplies can be traced to the marketing wizardry of the bottled water companies. While the public today is concerned with pollution in drinking water, we should also concern ourselves with the onslaught of global plastic pollution brought about by the bottled water industry.

How can you make a difference, while still knowing your drinking water is clean and safe? Use a point-of-use quality water filtration system such as a Multipure Drinking Water System. Once you own a #Multipure, use it to fill a reusable water bottle for portability. Using a Multipure solid carbon block filter removes chlorine and reduces many unhealthy #contaminants, while leaving intact the healthy dissolved minerals your body needs. The cost of #bottledwater (per gallon) can be as high as 48 times the cost of using a Multipure Drinking Water System.