This seems rather offensively racist. What are the “nasty things” that you imagine the British would be getting up to with their drinking fountains (and that other nationalities would not)?
The drinking fountains that used to abundant in Britain did acquire a bit of a bad reputation, because they were usually out in the open, did not get much maintenance, and consequently there might be rust or algae around the spout or the drain. That had nothing to do with people doing “nasty things” though, and in reality it probably did not affect the hygiene of the water, which was usually drunk from the stream in the air, much like American fountains. (Even in the unlikely event that some drunk pissed in the drain, or something, that really would not affect the purity of the water being drunk.
A common problem with them, however, was that (probably due to the build up of hard water scale in the pipes) often the stream would not squirt high enough to drink from easily. That probably has had a lot to do with their disappearance in more recent times. I can remember some that came with metal drinking cups, chained to the base, but those I too would have avoided as likely to be dirty (but not because people might have done “nasty things” beyond drinking from them, more because they were in the open air, exposed to city dust and grit).
Incidentally, is it actually true that drinking fountains are common in public buildings throughout the USA? I know they are common in California, but that is a hot, dry place, where people easily get thirsty and dehydrated. I would not have thought that there would be anything like the same degree of need for them in places like Wisconsin, or Maine, for instance (as, indeed, there is nothing like the same degree of need for them in cool, damp Britain).
Of course they do but apparently you are unaware they exist. So let me include 2 links that will verify their existence. One each for the states of Yucatán and Quintana Roo.
And if you are genuinely interested in learning more about your host country then simply Google plantas tratamiento aguas residuales and include the area you live in.
I actually suspect that a lot of the removal of drinking fountains is to do with both the cutbacks in local council staff (e.g.the getting rid of park keepers) and the privatisation of the water boards. So, she didn’t only snatch the milk…
You will see that there are 69 sewage treatment plants in the state of Yucatán. You said that none existed. The site is from the Comisión Nacional del Agua.
Earlier you claimed that there were no major bottlers of purified water. Again your claim was false.
If these treatments plants only do 2.1% of the waste water, that is close to none, ok?
If you would read my post correctly, I wrote that the bottlers of water don’t have a huge markup. I pay 6 pesos for a garrafon. I didn’t write there were no major bottlers of purified water. Relax, okay?
Very refreshing. Add to that the tasty city tap water here, and I’m getting thirsty now… though I’d rather be using one of those “bubblers” in Italy or France (aha! new life goal: teach the people of Paris to say “Ou est la bubblaire?”).
I can attest that both the local courthouse, the local community college, and the local theatre (for live productions, not movies) have drinking fountains. I’m unsure if other public places have them.
As a child in Toronto, I well remember the public water fountains in school and in the parks. There was a reason we always played football in a park with a fountain.
Here in Korea, most office buildings have water coolers (bottle or tap, a big plastic thing with cooler and filtration) and a little packet of envelopes bolted to the side of it; use the envelopes as cups.
Bottled water is widely available. Korean tap water is very potable, but expats like me prefer the bottle.
My father is from Wisconsin. (I grew up in Pennsylvania.)
The morning of my first day of kindergarten, he gave me some bits of friendly advice, which ended with, “And don’t put your mouth on the bubbler!”
So I spent the whole day making sure my mouth didn’t get close to anything, because I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about :eek:
Now, as you might notice from my Location: field and my signature, I live in Norway. I can confirm that drinking fountains are rare, though not non-existent. I have worked at two different high schools, both in 1970s-era buildings as it happens, and both have had drinking fountains in the corridors. And in both buildings the fountains were broken. I suppose nobody complained enough to get the custodians to fix them. Matter of fact, at the school where I work now, the fountains were removed this summer.
We have a water cooling contraption in the cafeteria - it’s tap water, but it goes through some coils or something that chills the water a little more (I can be more vague if you’d like) - and there’s a pile of plastic cups next to it for the students to use, although most of them bring bottles and refill them.
I think maybe you might be overreacting to a comment on drinking fountains generally rather than British hygiene. The person you responded to mentioned that they were in the UK because it answered part of the OP’s question, not because they think we’re spending our time doing disgusting things with taps and spouts that no-one else would do.
I don’t recall seeing many in public anywhere (though I might not be looking for them, since I can’t recall seeing them in the States much either), but we have them at school. No way in the world would I ever use one of the school ones. Teenage boys are not the people I want to share a spout with. Ugh.
Other countries aren’t “stingy”, OP. Water is expensive and scarce. How fortunate Americans are that their wondrous nation can afford to give it away. Other places can’t. You invite negative judgement when you make negative judgements of others.
Drinking fountains in the UK aren’t quite as rare as some of you seem to think. This site has a map of drinking fountains in central London - there’s not exactly one on every street corner, but they do exist. But how many people would ever notice them?
All true. But old-style drinking fountains were often substantial structures in their own right and/or an intergral part of a larger building, and some of them are listed. So the pattern tends to be not so much that they get removed, more that they are simply allowed to fall into disuse.
The water that touches your lips/mouth but doesn’t get swallowed, falls back onto the nozzle and bowl area though, right? I’m picturing people’s saliva washing back down, and bacteria breeding happily in the puddles till the next person comes along and switches the flow on.
There’s no mouth contact with the drink near the machine though - just nozzle dispensing to a fresh cup. Same with people using taps to fill water bottles. It’s the mouth touching the stream of liquid that I find disturbing!
I’m British and don’t want to drink out of other nationalities drinking fountains either - no racism involved, I believe all humans are similarly nasty!
“She” being Thatcher, for the non-Brits wondering. At least, I assume so, anyway
True, in many countries. But I don’t think that this explains a lot of Europe.
I mean: the pipes can be filled with mold. And the flow bring little mold particles into your pristine cup. It’s been seen before, but I don’t know how common. It doesn’t stop me from ordering one.
Speaking for the UK, have a look at this Environment Agency report (warning - it’s a PDF). Sample sentence: “When we take population density into account (Figure 4a), we actually have less water per person in South East England than many hotter, drier countries such as Morocco and Egypt.” I know most Americans think of England as a rainy little place which couldn’t possibly be short of water, but if that information about the UK is wrong, maybe the misconception that other countries are also “stingy” could be wrong too.
Does the fact that the US fought a long and still-taught political battle over access to water fountains perhaps indicate a reluctance to omit them from new buildings as compared to countries where they have no such connotations?
