Drinking fountains

[whole diary]

[mjray]

Does anyone know which GW^▸ (Great Western) stations have water drinking fountains and whether they are outside the ticket barriers, on the platforms or in the toilets (free or paid)?  Would be useful to know this for summer travelling.

Some fountains are shown on osm.org and some are on findafountain.org but there's a lot missing and I've yet to spot a GW station one on their maps.

[Chris from Nailsea]

I don't have any information on your very interesting query, mjray - but may I offer you a very warm welcome to the Coffee Shop forum! 

[JayMac]

I've never seen a drinking fountain at any station, let alone one served by First Great Western.

[trainer]

I think they'd rather sell you over-priced bottled water. 

[broadgage]

IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) drinking fountains OUGHT to be provided as a public service, I do not recall ever seeing one at a rail station.

A drinking fountain is not costly, and the relatively small columes of water used for drinking are trivial in cost as compared to the larger volumes used for other purposes.
At a small station, a single drinking fountain should suffice, but at busy locations more would be needed.
No special water treatment or special water supply is needed, the mains water is fit to drink.

The regular consumption of bottled water is very wastful of both money and the energy used in making the bottles, transporting them and disposing of the resultant rubbish.

Providing drinking water fountains at rail stations would significantly reduce the volumes of rubbish to be disposed of since a fair bit of it seems to consist of water bottles.

[Red Squirrel]

I think a lot of public drinking fountains were removed decades ago because of fears over hygeine (see this article for example). It's not just the cost of providing the fountain, it's also the public liability if someone claims to get ill after using it.

[broadgage]

The article linked to above mainly refers to the situation in the USA when water from a private well is supplied for drinking.
Such water is not always potable, and even if tested and found to be safe may not remain safe.

Virtualy all areas of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) have a piped water supply that is fit to drink.
Designing the drinking fountain so as to be hygeinic is relatively easy, the Victorians managed it !

[mjray]

IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) drinking fountains OUGHT to be provided as a public service, I do not recall ever seeing one at a rail station.

I've got a vague recollection of one on platform 4 at Bristol Temple Meads but I can't see it on any photographs and I wonder if the vending machine (bottled water) is where it was. Something to check next time I change trains there.

London is installing new water fountains, so I don't think there's a serious barrier. I guess the paranoid have to decide which is the worse risk: being sued for dehydration because only bottled water is available on the sauna trains and at stations or being sued for drinking fountains...

[ChrisB]

You can't sue someone for dehydration. Duty of care to yourself requires you to carry water if you so require it.

On the other hand, catching something off a fountain coz the previous user had a notifiable disease could well be cause to sue.

[mjray]

You can't sue someone for dehydration. Duty of care to yourself requires you to carry water if you so require it.

I suspect it's not as clear cut as that, else why do FGW^▸ (First Great Western) hand out free drinks on sauna trains when they're delayed or far hotter than a reasonable person would expect and why make general announcements telling people to drink enough?

Find A Fountain's FAQ^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions) says "Drinking water from public fountains is generally safe as there are many regulations in place to help protect the public from the potential hazards caused by drinking water fountains. These regulations include water filters at the source and a covered spout to help prevent people's lips from touching the spout. A covered spout also helps prevent the water that was splashed on the mouth from splashing back onto the spout. Furthermore, there is an advised minimum height requirement for the water flow. To adhere to health and safety regulations, the water must flow at least at 4 inches high, so a cup may be placed under the spout."

Never mind Oregon, has anyone ever been sued in England for a disease problem with a modern drinking fountain?

[ChrisB]

I know someone who caught food poisoning off the spout of a fountain - both tested positive for the same bugs....

[grahame]

You can't sue someone for dehydration. Duty of care to yourself requires you to carry water if you so require it.

I once took a cross channel ferry that took some 36 hours ... a storm blew up, and some **** had filled the bow thruster tanks with water not diesel, so we had to ride up and down the channel in the storm waiting for it to subside enough for us to get into port.  I could digress and tell you what it was like on board!

We took with us, and purchased, enough liquid for our use on the crossing.  And  those of us who could keep food and drink down were pretty well plied during the crossing extension.   But I'll contend that if the ferry operator had failed to provide drinks, or had charged so much that people couldn't afford them, and someone had suffered damage as a result, a case against them would have been possible and very likely winnable!

[Red Squirrel]

You can't sue someone for dehydration. Duty of care to yourself requires you to carry water if you so require it.

I once took a cross channel ferry that took some 36 hours ... a storm blew up, and some **** had filled the bow thruster tanks with water not diesel, so we had to ride up and down the channel in the storm waiting for it to subside enough for us to get into port.  I could digress and tell you what it was like on board!

We took with us, and purchased, enough liquid for our use on the crossing.  And  those of us who could keep food and drink down were pretty well plied during the crossing extension.   But I'll contend that if the ferry operator had failed to provide drinks, or had charged so much that people couldn't afford them, and someone had suffered damage as a result, a case against them would have been possible and very likely winnable!

I think there's a big difference between passengers en route, and mere passers-by. Someone who is at a station with a valid ticket to travel could reasonably be considered to be covered by a duty of care, so one would presume that 'the rail industry' would have to make sure that they didn't die of thirst while waiting for their train.

Someone at or near a station without a ticket to travel would not be covered by such a duty of care, even if they were dying of thirst.

However if someone at or near a station without a ticket to travel picked up mononucleosis from a station drinking fountain, then I suspect they'd have a good case if they sued the owner and the fountain was found not to comply with modern regulations - which would be the case if it shot the water straight up, or the spout was not covered to make it impossible to touch it with your mouth, or if the jet of water was less than 100mm.

I suspect that a lot of drinking fountains in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) didn't meet the hygeine requirements, and it was easier to rip them out than to replace them.

[TonyK]

I once took a cross channel ferry that took some 36 hours ... a storm blew up, and some **** had filled the bow thruster tanks with water not diesel, so we had to ride up and down the channel in the storm waiting for it to subside enough for us to get into port.  I could digress and tell you what it was like on board!

We took with us, and purchased, enough liquid for our use on the crossing.  And  those of us who could keep food and drink down were pretty well plied during the crossing extension.   But I'll contend that if the ferry operator had failed to provide drinks, or had charged so much that people couldn't afford them, and someone had suffered damage as a result, a case against them would have been possible and very likely winnable!

Spike Milligan had this simple solution to sea sickness: "Stand under a tree".

[eightf48544]

As a lad on holiday in Southampton I went round USS Forrestal an aircraft carrier and was struck by the number of water fountains all over the ship. As well as pipes for aviation fuel etc. there were chilled water pipes everywhere.

I am trying to think of water fountains on stations and I'm not sure, I think they were more likely to found on the street by horse troughs for instance or in parks.