# Water Fountains
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [August 19, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287 "2025-08-19T20:39:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/1 "2025-08-19T20:39:57Z")
WTF are many public water fountains still turned off? Most were turned off during the initial COVID epidemic. But the initial scare is mostly over.
Plus: why turn them off in the first place? Were people putting their mouths over the whole fountain, like they did in fictional Pawnee, IN?
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2025, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/2 "2025-08-19T20:42:13Z")
Avoiding typhoid most likely.
Or segregation. If this group and that group can’t have different fountains then ain’t no one gets water.
Or it’s Atlanta where water fountains are illegal unless they provide Coca-Cola.
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### Author:  [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2025, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/3 "2025-08-19T20:43:54Z")
Do I think the majority of the reason they were turned off was a “better safe than sorry”? Yes. Do I think most of the reason they stayed off was by most businesses to prevent lingering and cut costs? Double yes.
But, at a lot of the water fountains / hydration stations, I did see quite a few people empty their mostly finished water bottles into the drain, before filling up again. And some were quite messy about it. So there’s a non-zero reason to turn them off in terms of lots of possibly germ carrying backwash sprayed over who knows what. A very small risk, but barely plausible.
Still leaving them off? See the double yes above.
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/4 "2025-08-19T22:07:16Z")
Weird, around here (east side of the Puget Sound in Washington State) I don’t remember seeing any water fountains get turned off, and certainly don’t see fountains off now. I use them frequently. The only change I’ve observed is that there are more “bottle-filling stations” than before, usually next to water fountains.
And this is an area that was really compliant with measures to curb Covid spread and complications.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/5 "2025-08-19T23:45:21Z")
I wonder where the OP lives? Here in COVID=hoax Florida fountains were never turned off and are as plentiful as ever.
It’s been a couple years since I retired from traveling for a living but I substantially never encountered dead water fountains in any airport, hotel, or shopping mall anywhere in big-city America. Even at the height of pre-vax COVID.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/6 "2025-08-19T23:54:32Z")
Ewwwww. I ain’t drinkings from one on purpose. (I don’t touch door handles in a public restroom either, but that’s just me)
The kids have to carry a bottle water to school everyday because those fountains have not worked in many years.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/7 "2025-08-19T23:54:39Z")
In Chicago I was biking along the lakefront path and the drinking fountains worked. I saw people and dogs use them (there were dog bowls at the base their human can fill with water from the fountain and give to the dog…the dogs do not drink directly from the fountain that I have seen but there is always that one guy who will let his dog do that).
Anecdotal I know.
I will say, they are turned off in the off-seasons (fall/winter) I suppose not to get ice all over them.
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### Author:  [@Nightaudit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightaudit)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/8 "2025-08-20T00:03:01Z")
From personal experience in the hotel industry… we shut them off and let them sit for a year or so… when we went to turn them back on; it was discovered that the mechanism for chilling the water had either silted up, got mouldy or mildewed inside or the compressor had seized. This was especially true if the fountain was originally installed back in the Nixon administration when the hotel was built. Who knew that you were supposed to drain the chilling tank before unplugging power and shut off the water to them 🤷♂️. To replace the old ones with new ones that are up to ADA and NSF standards, is like $7,000+ installation each for us…. [Wall Mount SwirlFlo Hands-free Bi-level ADA Fountain Mounting Frame | Elkay](https://www.elkay.com/products/details/ENOBM28K)
we’re doing them as Cap expense allows us to.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/9 "2025-08-20T00:08:45Z")
> [@Nightaudit](#):
>
> To replace the old ones with new ones that are up to ADA and NSF standards, is like $7,000+ installation each for us…
FWIW the drinking fountains I was talking about (outside, in parks) are a lot less fancy. Just water from the mains. No chilling or fanciness.
[ ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRXdwyoXMAAZ8_l.jpg)
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/10 "2025-08-20T02:37:58Z")
> [@Atamasama](#):
>
> Weird, around here (east side of the Puget Sound in Washington State) I don’t remember seeing any water fountains get turned off, and certainly don’t see fountains off now. I use them frequently. The only change I’ve observed is that there are more “bottle-filling stations” than before, usually next to water fountains.
>
> And this is an area that was really compliant with measures to curb Covid spread and complications.
Same in New England. We were also more into covid prevention than much of the country. But i don’t recall the water fountains ever bring turned off.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/11 "2025-08-20T02:39:44Z")
I’m sure this is the answer!
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/12 "2025-08-20T04:12:50Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> Ewwwww. I ain’t drinkings from one on purpose.
I fail to see what about drinking fountains should cause an “ewwwww” response. You are not supposed to touch your mouth to any part of it…
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/13 "2025-08-20T08:44:53Z")
Don’t worry I won’t be doing that. But I know children and they will/would. Also play precariously near the spigot with their grubby little hands that just picked up rabbit pellets and threw them at their baby brother.
I’ve seen mothers washing the kids hands in water fountains. I’ve seen Moms wash their own hands after a babies diaper change.
I saw a lady washing/wetting her hair in one. Indoors at a mall.
No I will not be drinking from one. Ever.
If you feel safe, go for it.
Peeps is nasty. Especially if they don’t have to clean up after themselves.
Don’t get me started on public restrooms.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/14 "2025-08-20T11:18:05Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> FWIW the drinking fountains I was talking about (outside, in parks) are a lot less fancy. Just water from the mains. No chilling or fanciness.
Of course, that is a lot fancier than “back in the day”, when Chicago fountains simply ran all the time without needing to press a button! 😉
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/15 "2025-08-20T11:44:04Z")
> [@AWB](#):
>
> WTF are many public water fountains still turned off?
You mean Bubblers? 😉
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/16 "2025-08-20T11:47:27Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> I will say, they are turned off in the off-seasons (fall/winter) I suppose not to get ice all over them.
There’s a bike trail near me that has a few water fountains along the way. I try to remember which ones are working so I know how much water to take with me, and how much I can refill on the way. They’re turned off in the winter; I always figured it was so the water wouldn’t freeze inside and burst the pipes.
Sometimes it takes them a while to turn them back on in the spring, or to fix them when they’re broken. When they’re not working for a while, I don’t assume it’s deliberate, just that maintaining them is pretty far down the list of priorities for the local public works department.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/17 "2025-08-20T11:53:00Z")
A beer store I used to go to used to have a bathroom for customers. COVID shut that down. It never opened back up.
It’s probably just f-it, why should we have to clean up after these people.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/18 "2025-08-20T13:13:26Z")
Agreed.
ISTM a lot of little courtesy items like that were stopped for COVID and won’t be coming back until / unless enough customers make a fuss or enough competitors bring it back first.
I’m still seeing maybe 25% of restaurants around here not putting salt & pepper on the table unless asked.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/19 "2025-08-20T16:11:33Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> I’ve seen mothers washing the kids hands in water fountains. I’ve seen Moms wash their own hands after a babies diaper change.
>
> I saw a lady washing/wetting her hair in one. Indoors at a mall.
>
> No I will not be drinking from one. Ever.
>
> If you feel safe, go for it.
But, so what? You don’t drink from the bowl. What does it matter what touched the bowl? Just let the water run a few seconds and then it’s fine. Why do you think germs will magically jump up from the bowl into the running water moving upwards?
Just seems like a weird germaphobic hangup that doesn’t actually make sense.
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### Author:  [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2025, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-fountains/1022287/20 "2025-08-20T16:17:40Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> Of course, that is a lot fancier than “back in the day”, when Chicago fountains simply ran all the time without needing to press a button! 😉
In Rome (Italy) there are a lot of water fountains which do just that. I believe they are officially considered to be completely OK to drink; presumably a continuous flow prevents build up of mold, bacteria and other gunk.
> **[Rome drinking fountains: All you need to know - Tripadvisor](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Articles-lswAKFHO7jkY-Drinking_fountains_in_rome.html)**
>
> Wondering how to keep yourself hydrated while exploring Rome? Skip the bottled water sold at tourist attractions and head for the nasoni to quench your thirst like the Romans do.
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