Downtown Cambridge thirsty for water fountains: Hamilton

Cambridge council is set to consider a motion that could see public water fountains returned to the city’s downtown.

The motion, tabled by Ward 7 councillor Scott Hamilton, is on the agenda for Tuesday’s council meeting.

The argument made is, while Canada is home to around 20 per cent of the world’s freshwater reserves, downtown Cambridge is a dry spot when it comes to readily accessible drinking water.

“I grew up in a small town in Ontario and we had lots of water fountains outside,” said Hamilton. “If you needed a drink, you could get one. It would be clean, it would be safe, and of course it would be affordable.”

Hamilton said he was also amazed while living overseas how much public water fountains seemed to be considered a standard part of the social infrastructure of cities.

“Like, you can’t walk more than 50 metres in any Italian city without being confronted with a water fountain,” he said.

“So, when I came back to Canada and I was living in Cambridge, I was amazed to find that, right now, there’s not a single drinking fountain that is outdoors [and] available to the public–from public squares to sports areas like ball diamonds.”

Hamilton said he’s also noticed the issue while biking the city with his son.

“You end up having to pop off, lock-up, go and purchase a plastic bottle and, again, in a country with as much freshwater as we have, I don’t think this has to happen,” he continued.

“And so the spirit of this motion is maybe not to bring back every drinking fountain in the city, but why not just start with one. Let’s try one water fountain as a pilot project to see how it works out.”

He also noted this would not be the kind of ‘germ fountain’ of days past, saying there have been many upgrades over the years to make water fountains clean and safe.

“A lot of the drinking fountains that are available on the market today, they take [health and sanitation concerns] into consideration,” Hamilton said.

“So, a bottle-filling station, the spout is coming down. No one can wrap their lips around the old school classic ’60s fountain that I think a lot of us remember when we talk about that nostalgia of water fountains and even those that do have what’s called an ‘open spout’ or ‘open system’, they have those kind of protection mechanisms in place so that no one can foster that ‘bacteria farm’ that I think people kind of automatically conger-up in their minds.”

Hamilton also went on to note while the importance of public health is at a pinnacle right now, water also remains a universal human right.

“With everything we’re going to experience from the environmental changes to the rise in heat, to affordability, having at least one public water fountain where people can access water–I think it’s something that’s worth exploring.”