For most public drinking water fountains, there is almost no risk of disease from the water itself, and probably not much from the spout. Even if children put their mouths on it momentarily, it is constantly being rinsed. The bowl, however, can have globs of infectious mucus because some people spit before drinking.

They help to remedy health issues commonly linked to shared water fountains, provide an alternative to unhealthy drinks, reduce plastic waste, encourage better hydration, and give children a way to get enough water on a daily basis and keep them well-hydrated.

Many studies in daycare centers have found that water fountains are common carriers of rotavirus, which is known to cause diarrhea. Researchers have also found that handles on drinking fountains were the most contaminated surfaces in public schools. These bubblers are hosts for norovirus and influenza A.

They average about five gallons to fill them up and need to be topped off about twice a week. This water loss comes almost entirely from evaporation, Schopper said. The amount of water used in a week for such a fountain is the equivalent of a couple new-toilet flushes.

Drinking fountain manufacturers have esti- mated energy consumption of refrigerated fountains to be between 7.8–10.8 kWh per 40-hour work week. The American National Standard Institute requires refrigerated drinking fountain water to be delivered at 40 to 50°F.

A bubbler is … you guessed it, the same as a water fountain or drinking fountain. It is formally defined as “a drinking fountain that spouts water.” The word bubbler is typically only used this way in a few areas of the US, including Wisconsin and parts of New England.

Terminology. The term bubbler is used in some regional dialects of the United States and in Australia. A survey of US dialects undertaken between 2002 and 2004 found the word bubbler is commonly used in southern and eastern Wisconsin and in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

While Kohler did eventually create a design called a bubbler in the 1920s, the term actually predates that style of water fountain. “But there was also an attachment that you could lean over, just like we do with bubblers now. And they called that the bubbler,” says Dippel.

founder Halsey W. Taylor

Taylor’s father had died of typhoid fever caused by contaminated public drinking water. His father’s death motivated him to invent the drinking water fountain, to provide safer drinking water for the public and hopefully prevent the spread of diseases such as typhoid fever.

Only people from eastern Wisconsin and Rhode Island call it a “bubbler” while those from the rest of the country drinks out of a “drinking fountain” or a “water fountain.”