When I backpacked through most of Europe last year, I noticed in none of the airports, train stations, and bus depots I visited was there a water fountain. Not a single one could be found anywhere, and I was always forced to use the vending machine or drink from the faucet in the (grumble) pay toilets. Similarly, I don’t recall ever seeing one when I visited Brazil and Thailand (though given the state of their municipal water supply, that may have been a blessing).
Are Americans simply more generous with their water? Why is the rest of the world so stingy?
There are plenty in Canada, though I think they might be less common with new construction. I remember being upset when I got to Fan Expo this year with my brand-new water bottle, only to realize that there were no fountains and the hands-free bathroom sinks only blasted hot water. So I had to wait for the bottle to cool down before drinking from it.
America makes (via treatment plants) all the water suitable for consumption. But a very small portion is actually consumed. Most is used flushing toilets, washing, etc. In many foreign countries the potable water might be filtered and treated with chlorine but is not suitable for drinking. Bottled water is available for drinking.
Which do you think is more cost effective?
I actually see them less and less often in newly built or remodeled US buildings. I can’t recall the last time I saw one in a shopping mall (1990s, maybe). I still see them in large single-purpose stores (big boxes, supermarkets, etc.), but at my own store, I can’t even recall seeing a customer use one. I guess schools still have them, and my university installs them in new buildings, but more popular there have been water bottle filling machines.
The UK used to have loads, but sanitation issues and the price of upkeep has led to most of them being switched off or removed.
Sure I saw a working one earlier this summer, but now I can’t remember where.
I think you were just looking in the wrong places. I remember visiting public fountains in Italy, Greece, France… They don’talwayslook like the fountains in the US. And they’re usually in piazzas and lanes, not in buildings.
Nonsense. In first world countries (and probably in major cities even in most poorer countries) the stuff coming out of the taps is perfectly drinkable, and is regularly drunk by most people. It is usually the same stuff as is used for washing and toilet flushing, just like in America.
By the way, “potable” means drinkable, so your penultimate sentence contradicts itself.
And I don’t know what you think is more cost effective, but use of bottled drinking water certainly is not.
Ok. My experience is limited to Mexico, Central and South America. Metal covers in the streets are labeled “potable” but no one drinks the stuff. That is why I used that term. In Mexico City, the largest city in the world, no one drinks the tap water. It tastes awful. They recommend boiling it first, if you are going to consume it.
I can refill my 5 gallon jug for drinking water for less than 50 cents. Sure it is inconvenient, but it works. Poorer countries just don’t have the resources to make every drop of water drinkable. And it doesn’t make sense, when such a small percentage is actually consumed.
When I lived in Africa the water had to be boiled also. The real issue wasn’t water for drinking, it is water for cooking. My poor mother made the mistake of eating a salad in a restaurant once, which probably got washed in tap water, and was sick for a week.
I’d be curious for a cite on the price difference (for one household) beween:
a month of municipally-supplied potable water
versus
a month of municipally-supplied non-potable water (that is suitable for laundry, bathing, doing the dishes, etc.). plus appropriate quantities of potable water purchased separately at ten cents per gallon.
I’m sure I saw one when I was young, here in the UK, probably in my school. Apart from that, no. IF you put a gun to my head and told me to find one, you’d need one more to clean my blood off, because I couldn’t do it.
There used to be one in the Park in St Albans (UK) 40 years ago, not anymore though, i think it was a Victorian public health thing, showing off the mains water was fit to drink. It was the only one i have ever seen out in the wild. (ie not in a school)
In a previous life, I lived in Utah. You were charged for usage of water entering the house as it was metered. It was very cheap. As you used more water, the cost per 1000 gallons increased. However, in your property tax assessment you were also paying for this water via water projects, bonds, etc. So, it appears the water is cheap when looking at the meter. However, in reality you are paying for the water infrastructure on the property tax.
Where I lived, houses were supplied with pressurized potable water, and pressurized irrigation water that was untreated. In this manner, expensive drinking water was not needed for lawns and gardens.
Here in Mexico, I pay approximately $30/year for metered water. About $6/year for bottled water. Not counting the cockroaches, I live alone so I don’t cook often.
They are around in Melbourne AU but the actual city ones seem to run through a process before hitting the streets as it tastes far more chloriney than the stuff out of the tap. The ones in suburban parks etc. seem to be the usual great tap water we have here.
More cost effective for whom? The bottling companies in the US sure love charging a huge markup for what is essentially tap water with a witch doctor’s blessing.
I saw not a one in my last trip to Europe (Norway). Not even in the airport. My theory is that they want you to buy the $5US bottled water. I lived off of bathroom faucets and the bottle I initially bought.
I never never lived in a place in the US that did not chlorinate the water. Chlorine certainly doesn’t make it non-potable, although as said, it doesn’t (necessarily) make it drinkable either. Hell, most places put in its nastier cousin, chloramine.
