INDEX: Drinking Water Fountain Amenities

INDEX:
Drinking Water Fountain Amenities

Drinking Water Fountain Amenities

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This Drinking Fountain Amenities index page aggregates links
to all post and photos of retail merchandising, display, and outfitting
as well as deep Background courtesy of Wikipedia.

BACKSTORY:

A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water.^[1]^[2] It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and swallows water directly from the stream. Modern indoor drinking fountains may incorporate filters to remove impurities from the water and chillers to lower its temperature. Drinking fountains are usually found in public places, like schools, rest areas, libraries, and grocery stores.

Drinking fountains are an important source of clean water in urban infrastructure.^[3]^[4]^[5] Many jurisdictions require drinking fountains to be wheelchair accessible (by sticking out horizontally from the wall), and to include an additional unit of a lower height for children and short adults. The design that this replaced often had one spout atop a refrigeration unit.^{[citation needed]}

In recent studies, it has been found that some drinking fountains have been contaminated with pathogenssuch as bacteria. In one study, a virus commonly known to cause diarrhea in young children, known as the rotavirus, has been found on drinking fountains in child day carefacilities.^[19] Due to cases in the past where children have fallen ill due to coliform bacteria poisoning, many governments have placed strict regulations on drinking fountain designs. The vertical spout design is now illegal in most US jurisdictions.^{[citation needed]} Some governments even require water spouts to be as long as four inches to meet health standards.^[16] It is also recommended for young children to allow drinking fountains to run before drinking, as the water may also be contaminated with lead. This is especially common in older buildings with obsolete plumbing.^[20] In the 1970s, this fear of contamination in tap water was hyped by producers of bottled water, thereby changing attitudes to publicly provided water in drinking fountains, which began to disappear from city streets.^[21]

The term bubbler is used in some regional dialects of the United States and in Australia.^[22] A survey of US dialects undertaken between 2002 and 2004 found the word bubbler is commonly used in southern and eastern Wisconsin and in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The phrase drinking fountain was common in the rest of the inland north and in the west, while water fountain dominated other parts of the country.^[23]

The term bubbler is sometimes used in the Portland, Oregon, region where in the early 1900s former Wisconsin resident Simon Benson installed 20 fountains, which are now known in the Portland area as “Benson Bubblers“.^[24] Currently, there are 52 of these iconic four-bowl drinking fountains still providing free-flowing water in downtown Portland.^[25]

Frost-resistant drinking fountains are used outdoors in cold climates and keep the control mechanisms below the frostline resulting in a delay for when water comes out.^[26]

Most drinking fountains are freely available, however there are exceptions. Many private individuals in Armenia install pulpulaks(Armenian name for drinking fountain) in their yards or neighborhoods for various reasons, which include honoring dead relatives/friends or giving back to the community.

In Nepal, the construction of water conduits like dhunge dharas, dug wells and tutedharas is considered a pious act. This applies to kings and other dignitaries as well as to ordinary citizens.^[27]^[28]^[9]^[29] (SOURCE: Wikipedia)