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Wednesday 10 April 2019

Water (communal drinking water)

Britain's first public drinking fountain was turned on in Hammersmith, London in 1695.

The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association was set up in 1859 to provide free drinking water. The first fountain was built on Holborn Hill on the railings of the church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate on Snow Hill. It was paid for by MP Samuel Gurney, and opened on April 21, 1859. (See picture below).

Wikipedia

The Holborn Hill fountain became immediately popular, used by 7,000 people a day. Over the next six years 85 fountains were built.

For many centuries in the United States, the only source for the thirsty of free liquid refreshment (unless they were near to a river, lake or stream), was a public barrel filled with drinking water, equipped with a small communal hand-held dipper that was shared by all users. This was a major cause of ailments as when the water supply became contaminated disease quickly spread throughout the community.

The creation of public drinking fountains in America in the 19th century was supported by the Temperance Movement to stop people from drinking alcohol.

Combined drinking fountain for people, horses and dogs, Toronto, Canada, 1899

In 1907 Lawrence Luellen, a lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts who was concerned about the lack of hygiene at the communal supplies of drinking water, developed a water-vending machine with disposable paper cups. With another Bostonian, Hugh Moore, he embarked on a public-education campaign encouraging people to use his paper cups rather than the publicly shared dippers, which spread germs so easily. The breakthrough came when the apparatus became a regular fixture on trains.

In the late nineteenth century the father of an automobile worker, Halsey Taylor, died of typhoid fever after drinking from a contaminated water supply. A few years later, Taylor noticed frequent outbreaks of dysentery among his fellow automobile workers, again from waterborne germs. Taylor was inspired to try to find a way of providing safe communal drinking water. He developed a "double bubbler" tap in a barrel that squirted two streams of water upwards for an individual to drink.

During World War One, the American army adopted a portable version of Taylor's device. They found that his device not only prevented the waste of precious drinking water but also reduced the amount of diseases brought on by living in overcrowded army conditions.

Airline water is so bad it is recommended you don't wash your hands after using the bathroom but to use sanitizer instead. Also skip the coffee or tea and get a bottled drink. Most Airlines tested positive for E. Coli and coliform in their water.

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