Marketing Bottled Water

The author of this post laments the surge in buildings without water fountains:

Municipal leaders have shown that there is a strong political will for increased use and promotion of tap water. However, we continuously hear of new buildings being constructed without water fountains and existing buildings decommissioning older water fountains without replacing them.

One example comes from the University of Central Florida (UCF) where a $55 million football stadium was constructed with no water fountains.

In September 2007, UCF opened the 45,000 seat football stadium for a home game. The day of the game was very hot and the concessions had less than 45,000 bottles of water on hand. The concessions ran out of bottled water and fans were left thirsty. More than sixty people were treated for heat exhaustion.

I am completely sympathetic to this complaint.*

The fact is that buildings are "mini-monopolies" -- if one faces the choice between buying bottled water and walking some (?) distance to a water fountain some (?) where, then buying the water seems an attractive option. Building designers and owners understand their market power -- it's explicit in the contracts for vending machines and concessions -- and they decide to "tax" building visitors by removing the option of free water. Since they save the expense of water fountains and gain the revenue from water sales, the situation benefits them, but it does not benefit visitors OR the planet.

Bottom Line: I am happy to endorse "public" water fountains in the same way that I endorse "public" toilets. I hate it when guys pee on the walls (women have worse choices), and I hate it when I can't get a drink of water.

* Although I am quick to drink out of the sink in the bathroom, the "innovation" of warm sink water has made that option rarer.