Many international cities used to have public water fountains dotted around them to ensure that the most vital thing to a human being’s existence was always available, but no more.
When did water fountains go out of fashion? Well, if one looks back one can see that the timeline of water fountains disappearing links almost exactly to the growth of bottled water peddled by unscrupulous drinks companies as being “cool†hygienic and healthy. It seems the massive advertising campaigns did their job only too well.
Is it Time to Bring Back the Public Water Fountain?
For a decade or more, bottled water became the be all and end all of staying hydrated, starting off in the US, as many fashionable fads do, and soon spreading globally. Drinking bottled water seemed healthier than drinking tap water, and billions of individuals bought into the idea – then cam e the “designer labels†together with huge advertising campaigns making it “cool†to drink certain brands of bottled water like your favourite star does.
Eco-warriors started upping their campaigns at the same time that global warming was starting to be felt and climate change was becoming a reality, and campaigns against bottled water started to make waves, showing just how much it cost to manufacture one of those little plastic bottles and what happened to all of them, or at least a few million tons of them.
Unfortunately the ugly truth is that many of the bottled water punted as being “enhanced,†“pure,†“have added vitamins†or “sourced in the glaciers†was nothing more than ordinary tap water that had been rebottled and had a fancy schmancy label put on it. Bottled water has also become very expensive and unaffordable for many.
According to Centers for Disease Control researcher Stephen Onufrak, the disappearance of water fountains has been really bad for public health, and because there were so few water fountains, more and more individuals, notably the youth, were drinking carbonated drinks instead of the water their growing bodies needed.
Recently various city officials have started resurrecting the good old public water fountain; New York is peddling its tap water, which is among the best in the world, to anyone who will listen, highlighting the fact that the water tastes great, is free, is good for the environment, and promotes good health.
London too has jumped on board, with the grand opening of a public water fountain in Trafalgar Square, with Mayor Boris Johnson promising more to come. Even the EPA is behind the movement, and has mounted the Bring Back the Water Fountain Campaign in the hope that by supporting the move to provide access to clean, safe tap water, more individuals will use the public water fountains to hydrate, resulting in better health overall. So it seem s as if the answer is yes, it is time to bring back the public water fountain.
