Does Decatur Need More Water Fountains?
Decatur Metro | December 13, 2011Decatur Active Living’s Water Fountain Committee needs your input! Received this in my virtual mailbox yesterday. (Do you think in 50 years, people will wonder why it’s called a “mailBOX”?)
The Decatur Active Living Board has formed a Water Fountain Committee to access Decatur’s public water needs. Some of the issues they seek to address include water fountain access, the location of public water fountains throughout the city, the reduction of plastic bottles, the cost efficiency of adding new water fountains, fountain maintenance and a needs-assessment for future water fountains. Ultimately, the goal of the committee is to increase access to public water fountains in order to support Decatur’ active lifestyle.
According to the 2010 US Census, the population of Decatur is 19,335 and currently Decatur has 14 water fountains. This works out to be approximately one fountain per every 1400 Decatur residents. How do we know if this is enough to meet the needs of our active population?
This is where YOU come in! Please take a few minutes to complete a short five question survey on water fountains in Decatur at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/F38PJRS. Deadline for completing the survey is January 15, 2012. We look forward to getting your ideas and opinions.
Here’s probably the most interesting question of the six…
Would you, your business, or organization be interested in funding the full or partial cost of a water fountain with a permanent plaque recognizing you for your gift?
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My worry is that new water fountains will attract more thirsty people from poorly-fountained jurisdictions immediately surrounding Decatur, speeding up the vicious cycle of “thirst-drink-fountain-thirst-drink-fountain” so depleting our water supply.
This calls for proof of residency and a Fountain Patrol!
Do we really need to spend the time on a committee? I think our elected officals and Planning Departmen are capable of deciding this and picking approprate locations? This is an example of just too many chef’s in the kitchen
Why not? What’s the harm? It doesn’t cost City of Decatur anything to have a committee get input on something like this and that input is one of the reasons that so much local support from residents. Anyone who doesn’t want to volunteer to be on the committee or respond doesn’t have to do so.
I didn’t see anywhere that it said it was a volunteer committee.
I know of at least one volunteer on the committee – my spouse
They need water bottle filling fountains specifically to reduce consumption of wasteful bottled water.
Those would be great near all ball fields so that kids can fill/refill bottles during games and practices.
They have these at Kennesaw State (and I’m sure other local colleges as well by now) and I remember checking them out on the 1st day they were available to use, water fountains, w/ built in bottle refilling taps at the top of the fountain with a small counter showing how many bottles saved, within 2 weeks most of the fountains like this were already in the thousands. pretty cool idea.
I think, if someone makes such a fountain, we should have some that have this at the top, regular drinking fountain in the middle, then at the bottom, one for pets.
A truly Decatur fountain.
+1
AGREED
These are all great ideas. Will the machine take credit cards as well as cash? Count me in.
Woops nice spelling on my last post! (Sorry no spell check!)
No water fountsins or waterbottling needed.
More growler filling stations would be nice though…
I hope the Water Fountain Committee is better than the Survey Monkey Committee. When designing a survey, there is a difference between “Check one” and “Check all that apply.” The whole survey is set up as check all that apply, and if you think that people will understand and only check one, I can tell you from years of experience that’s not the case.
It is going to be a mess to tabulate.
In all seriousness, the idea of a water fountain committee gives me a headache. Water fountains in parks would be great. Is it worth the cost? Let the city council decide.
What is your favorite “committee” quote? Mine is…
“A committee should consist of three people, two of whom are absent.”
Is that one of mine?
ron swanson rocks
“I have cried twice in my life. Once when I was seven and I was hit by a school bus. And then again when I heard that Li’l Sebastian had passed.”
I don’t think so…yours would have needed more of it bleeped out. Not suitable for a PG rated audience.
That’s decoy gold. You think I’d leave my gold in a locked safe buried underground where anyone could find it?
Give me all the bacon and eggs you have
Small Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness.
http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/110120/park-recs-pyramid_320.jpg
huge Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness
http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/110120/park-recs-pyramid_1500.jpg
I don’t know if we need more water fountains, but I sure am sick of hearing about it.
Man, we’re all a bunch of snark-monsters lately. We should design a snark-monster emoticon.
For now I’m adopting this little cutie for the job
First Walmart. Now water. I see a phonetic trend. Next, we’ll be angry about wombats and wah-wah pedals.
I could never get mad at a wah-wah pedal.
DM: It’s occurred to me that, by now, you probably have a great understanding of the psychology of Decatur residents, or at least those who ever post here! Especially since you know which screen names are duplicates of the same email address. Maybe you’ll be able to parlay that insight into a book someday! Or a Garrison Keillor-like show about Lake WoebeGreatLakes and our above-Links/Bridges/AP children!
Hmm…like this?
Harris sat on his expansive, new front porch, trying to enjoy an unseasonably warm Georgia winter afternoon.
“Global warming, no doubt.” he had remarked to his wife earlier that morning as he pulled on a pair of shorts and leashed up their hypoallergenic Golden Doodle, Mavis.
But it wasn’t the impending demise of humanity that was bothering him as he sat amongst the taupe-colored columns of his Craftsman bungalow, sipping on his Honest Tea and watching his son scurry through a righteous mob of Melissa and Doug toys.
It was the speeders.
The rest just writes itself!
Wow. All I ask for is to be mentioned in the Acknowledgments as the blogger who encouraged you to find your true passion……the Post-Modern Decatur Self-Parody Novel. (Anonymously, of course.)
Absolutely more water. I am sooooo parched.
I don’t know that we need a committee, but we do need more water fountains! This is a pet peeve of mine not just in Decatur, but in other cities I visit and run in. Because of it’s smaller size and number of parks with fountains, Decatur is probably better than most, but too many cities go to a lot of expense building miles of great riverwalks or paths for runners/walkers, then they spend a lot of time and effort encouraging the community to use them. But when you get there, there is no water to drink or bathrooms to use. Not very hospitable. Even worse is when they shut off the fountains. It’s like this great big tease. I carry a water bottle with me and on longer runs I map out my route taking where I can refill along the way into consideration. During the most recent drought, I discovered that the city of Atlanta had shut off the fountains. Here’s a deal: I promise not to bring my gallon jugs and fill up on your water if you’ll not let me die of heat stroke while using your paths.
And don’t even get me started on needing more public trash cans . . .
I am planning to take the survey and suggest that a water fountain be placed in the pocket park on the corner of 4th Avenue and Oakview next to the 4/5 Academy. With 500+ kids running around the area during the day it’s a great spot for water. Perhaps a drinking fountain will make it into other site planning underway but this would be a great start to helping kids stay active at school.
Excellent suggestion!
I guess they didn’t like the first survey responses.