Extreme heat is another reason public drinking fountains need to be installed: Coun. Hamilton

A motion to install a public drinking fountain in front of Cambridge City Hall has been stuck in the drain for over a year. It’s been deferred several times while council listens to different opinions and committees.

Cambridge Councillor Scott Hamilton presented the motion last June and is hopeful a pilot project will be approved when it comes back to council on Aug. 6.

In an interview with CityNews, Hamilton said the extreme heat this week is another reason why freely accessible water around the city is needed.

“I’m hopeful that all the committees are supportive, and I’m hopeful that we can get a drinking fountain in a public square installed sooner rather then later, because in weather like this we certainly need more water, rather then less,” said Hamilton.

When the motion was originally brought to council no outdoor public fountains were installed around the city. All of them had been taken out during the Walkerton water crisis that happened almost 25-years ago.

Cities like Cambridge are now reinstalling public water fountains knowing that the issues in Walkerton don’t affect them anymore.

Since then, one has been installed at the new recreation complex that just opened up on Fountain Street.

“In Canada, we’re fortunate enough to have one of the most abundant sources of fresh, drinkable water in the world. So, having a centralized location in one of our cores where are citizens and our residents can access clean, free drinking water. I think that’s a fabulous opportunity for our community,” said Hamilton.

The original idea was to make the fountain a “place making area” that included public art. Hamilton several committees were excited about the public fountains including the Farmer’s Market committee which said people consistently ask them for free water and the Cycling and Trails committee that said it would help Cambridge achieve a designation to become a bike friendly city.

“We’re experiencing a heat wave right now, so imagine if you have a source of free, cool water when your outside on a day when its 40 degrees, its pretty tough to turn that down and I think we as a city should be looking into this,” said Hamilton.

Hamilton added that if the pilot project is successful, the city can look at expanding it into other core areas as well.

The city celebrated its 50-anniversary last year, Hamilton said he was disappointed the fountain couldn’t have been installed then or by this spring.

In a statement to CityNews, Cambridge’s Deputy City Manager Hardy Bromberg said staff are reviewing items related to work at city hall.

“We are entering into this work being mindful of aligning the use of space to our Strategic Plan. Once this review is complete, we’ll be able to provide an update to Council and the public through a future report.”

The original proposal was to build something similar to what’s in Uptown Waterloo that included a drinking bowl for dogs, but that design has shifted. The full concept will come to council later this summer.

“We just have to hope that we can navigate the request of all of the committees in a way that we can install a fountain that meets as many of the requests as possible, knowing that we might have to be flexible, we might not be able to meet all of them. But we can still get something in there that’s safe and helpful for residents across the Galt core,” said Hamilton.