21 April 2010

Greens call for more and better drinking fountains

| johnboy
Join the conversation
17

The Greens’ Caroline Le Couteur is calling for Manly style drinking fountains to adorn Canberra’s urban areas.

Apparently it’s an environmental issue thanks to the hated bottled water.

“Good quality water fountains also mean people purchase less bottled water, which means fewer plastic bottles going to landfill.”

“Studies show it can take up to seven litres of water and a litre of crude oil to produce one litre of bottled water. Plastic is also a serious environmental problem when it is not recycled.”

“We want good quality drinking fountains, which are vandal proof, hygienic, and which also permit bottles to be refilled. This is important for people’s comfort and health. Drinking water rather than soft drinks can make it easier for people to maintain a healthy weight.”

Join the conversation

17
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

sloppery said :

Jim Jones said :

cleo said :

I boil all my drinking water and put into my drinking bottle

Why do you boil it?

Maybe cleo likes drinking hot water…?

Cleo must be from Sydney.

Jim Jones said :

cleo said :

I boil all my drinking water and put into my drinking bottle

Why do you boil it?

Maybe cleo likes drinking hot water…?

cleo said :

I boil all my drinking water and put into my drinking bottle

Why do you boil it?

I boil all my drinking water and put into my drinking bottle

I guess Johnboy must have migrated to Canberra from some Sydney or somewhere, otherwise he’d remember that Canberra used to have plenty of bubblers until self government – after which time removal of the bubblers happened as they were violated by beer drinkers over a period of years.

That is to say, the dearth of free drinking water in Canberra is only a recent event.

I wouldn’t impose on restaurants and cafés to offer free water to anyone, but I would certainly expect the same venues to offer free water to their customers.

I was walking through the city the other day wondering wtf the weird looking pole-like things on an angle were. The news told me they were drinking fountains.. odd. Whether it is worth another spending $100-$200k for a few more, I doubt. Ensuring the numerous cafes around the place offered free chilled tap water would be a better and cost efficient option.

After seeing pictures of what people do to the civic sheep.. i wont be touching the drinking fountains!

at first glance i thought it said “beer drinking fountains” – I’ll vote for that!

betterdeadthanzed9:17 pm 21 Apr 10

Haven’t the Greens ever heard of taps?

This is actually a very practical idea that would benefit the whole community.

That sounds like a pretty sensible idea, and I doubt that it would cost much.

georgesgenitals7:41 pm 21 Apr 10

I can’t believe people buy bottled water in this town. I reckon the water from tap is as good as most bottled stuff anyway.

I won’t buy any less bottled water unless they can refrigerate these fountains.

AndyC said :

Obviously the Greens have totally forgotten about that $80 million that went missing from last years budget. More water fountains would be one of the last things I would be wasting public money on right now…

I’m sure a very small levy on bottled water would quickly generate the cash to pay for some bubblers, as long as it was pegged to drinking fountains, and not diluted into consolidated revenue. It’d be great if local shops and other strategic points around the berg had drinking fountains. I grew up in Canberra, and remember that every other park seemed to have them. Surely all the underground infrastructure would still be there.

Obviously the Greens have totally forgotten about that $80 million that went missing from last years budget. More water fountains would be one of the last things I would be wasting public money on right now…

Inappropriate3:54 pm 21 Apr 10

Can the Manly style fountains survive a Canberra style winter?

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.