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For some reason, the belief persists that drinking municipal water will hurt you in some way.
It’s possible, says Donald McNeil Jr. of The New York Times, that this is due to the polio epidemics of the 1950s, when any place that you could contract the smallest amount of fecal matter (water fountains, swimming pools, movie theaters) was somewhere to fear.
But with the polio vaccine and the general safety of municipal water, there isn’t a lot to fear from your average water fountain.
As for the water, municipal water is often held to a higher standard than bottled water. The spout it comes out from isn’t that risky either, since even if a child puts their mouth all over it, the spout is constantly being rinsed by water.
This is even true when people let their dogs drink out of the fountain. Even if there were a huge risk, most of the germs in dogs’ mouths aren’t easily transmitted to humans.
The grossest part of the fountain itself is the bowl, where people often spit into before they drink. There’s often tons of infectious mucus in there. But no one is really licking the bowl, at least I hope not.
Other places you can find contamination?
The rim and the button/handle, where people actually touch the fountain with their hands.
However, this is a common phenomenon, as some of the easiest places to get contamination are on doorknobs, subway poles, and computer keyboards.
Now, with the Legionnaire’s scare, there really isn’t a lot of risk of getting it from water fountains. This is because Legionnaire’s tends to grow in warm water. Generally, municipal water is stored in cold pipes.
So, not to worry! Drink from water fountains without fear.
Does this make you less afraid of drinking from a water fountain?
Photo Copyright © 2007 jchatoff/Flickr
