Drinking fountain

A typical drinking fountain

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]

  1. ^ Dunlap, J. H. (1917). "The Sanitary Drinking Fountain". Journal (American Water Works Association). 4 (1): 65–69. ISSN 0003-150X.
  2. ^ Shakerin, Said (2004). "Microcontrolled Water Fountain: a Multidisciplinary Project*" (PDF). International Journal of Engineering Education. 20 (4): 654–659.
  3. ^ Hale, Marcia Rosalie (April 2019). "Fountains for Environmental Justice: Public Water, Homelessness, and Migration in the Face of Global Environmental Change". Environmental Justice. 12 (2): 33–40. doi:10.1089/env.2018.0031. ISSN 1939-4071.
  4. ^ Ivanov, Josselyn (2015). Drinking fountains : the past and future of free public water in the United States (Thesis thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  5. ^ "Ensuring the Future Accessibility of Drinking Fountains in Oklahoma and Beyond". Journal of Science Policy & Governance. doi:10.38126/jspg230102. Retrieved 9 January 2024.