Do you use public drinking fountains?

[zoom-zoom]

What these people should be scared of is going near a "sanitary" hospital...full of staph infections. That's terrifying!

[snapdragen]

I have no issues using public water fountains. My dog refuses to use public doggie water fountains, she turns her nose up at them as if to say "Ick, dog spit".

[smilingcat]

Wow American loving natto. blachhh and I spent part of my childhood in Japan. I was born there first generation Japanese.

Water out of the fountain in Central Park NY, I always put my hand over the fixture and washed off the fixture with water turned on, waited two seconds or so before drinking from it. Even then I'm bit weary. I've seen too many dogs licking the fountain fixture... yewww!!! I only drink from it in dire need.

Back to the stinky stinky natto. My sister used to put it on her hot bowl of rice to really stink it up. It was the only thing she could use to get to my sensibility. I had to leave the area. Hate that stuff. Sticky, hate the texture, color looks like poop and did I mention its STINKY!!

So I'm in the minority.

My mother is germ-phobic. I guess I am too to some extent. I often use peroxide on counter after handling chicken, meat, fish...

[Eden]

lol... I'm a weirdo caucasian I guess. I really like natto - I've even fermented it myself (it's quite easy really - just need soybeans, a warm dark place and natto starter). At the sushi bar I frequent one of the three owners (all Issei) won't even touch it, much less eat it - fortunately for me Yoshi loves it and loves that I love it .

[Owlie]

My mother forbade me from using public water fountains. But then, she was a microbiology major and also forbade me from going outside barefoot. And yes, in school I saw some kids put their mouths on the fixture. EEW. If need be, I'll use them, but I'll run the water for a couple seconds. I mainly use outdoor ones for refilling water bottles. Indoor ones...if the water's cold and doesn't taste nasty, sure. I don't have that kind of luck, at least in the last few buildings I've worked in.

[OakLeaf]

Heh. I love Chinese fermented tofu, but I've never been able to bring myself to try natto. It's the texture that puts me off, I like the flavor of all kinds of stinky fermented stuff. DH won't even let me bring kimchi into the house.

Funny though, now I think about it, I do kind of have an aversion to filling my water bottle from a bathroom sink ... even though that's usually the only public water supply in most places. It's not a strong enough aversion that I won't do it, but if there's a drinking fountain I much prefer that psychologically.

[Crankin]

There aren't too many public fountains around here; the one I use is on the town green in Harvard center. It's used by millions of cyclists to re-fill bottles and I never think about it. I also routinely fill bottles in bathroom sinks.
Of course my shocking lack of worry about germs amazes some of my friends. I am basically a clean person who doesn't really think or worrry about germs.

[nuliajuk]

As long as your mouth isn't actually touching the metal part of the fountain, I don't see a problem. The water pressure is going to force any bacteria that was in the pipe out within a few seconds. If a person is really worried about it, they could just bring an extra bottle from home, let the fountain run a while, then partially fill the bottle and drink from it.
Being in a small enclosed space with coughing people in the winter is probably far riskier than drinking from a public fountain. But then, my immune system works a little too well, so perhaps I'm not the best example of a typical response.

[Jolt]

I have never been too worried about using public drinking fountains...there are germs everywhere and that's why we have an immune system. As stated above, there are plenty of other public scenarios that are probably a lot germier and we don't even think twice about them.

[shootingstar]

I guess I'm in the middle about using outdoor public drinking fountains. But will use them if I have no choice.

I just hate it when I see people spit into the drinking fountain!

[OakLeaf]

You know, this thread was definitely on my mind this morning when it rained on our club ride.

I DO know someone who got very sick from drinking water from a frame-mounted water bottle. You do know that if you ride through water, whatever's in that water is now on the valve of your water bottle ... reclaimed water in the suburbs, dogsh*t and automotive chemicals in the city, cow and pig manure and ag chemicals in the country. But I still drink from my water bottle, and so does everyone else I know.

[skhill]

I drink from public drinking fountains just about daily, but I do usually let them run a bit first. And I've been pestering our parks department weekly to fix the fountain by our only public running track-- it keeps getting vandalized. Argggghhh.... It also gets to me that the doggie drinking fountains at the dog parks are left on year-round, but the ones for humans will be turned off for the winter soon.

I'm planning on starting this fall's first batch of sauerkraut this afternoon, hooray! There's usually something fermenting in my kitchen; I'm awed at the power of microorganisms to do wonderful things to food.

[Eden]

You know, this thread was definitely on my mind this morning when it rained on our club ride.

I DO know someone who got very sick from drinking water from a frame-mounted water bottle.

oh yeah.... we had a rainy day race on roads near where a farmer had recently manured his farms..... more than one person got sick after that day.

[emily_in_nc]

You know, this thread was definitely on my mind this morning when it rained on our club ride.

I DO know someone who got very sick from drinking water from a frame-mounted water bottle. You do know that if you ride through water, whatever's in that water is now on the valve of your water bottle ... reclaimed water in the suburbs, dogsh*t and automotive chemicals in the city, cow and pig manure and ag chemicals in the country. But I still drink from my water bottle, and so does everyone else I know.

Absolutely. I got just about as sick as I've ever been in my adult life during Bike Virginia in 2003 from just this. We were riding through a rural area with chicken farms, and it had rained recently, so apparently there was chicken poop in the rain run-off on the road. Or at least that's what the CDC came up with when over 100 of us contracted Camplyobacter during or after the event. Oh, I was so sick!

But I do drink out of public water fountains without a thought. I too have a bit of a psychological aversion to drinking water out of glasses or bottles filled from a bathroom sink, though I'll do it.

[Owlie]

Absolutely. I got just about as sick as I've ever been in my adult life during Bike Virginia in 2003 from just this. We were riding through a rural area with chicken farms, and it had rained recently, so apparently there was chicken poop in the rain run-off on the road. Or at least that's what the CDC came up with when over 100 of us contracted Camplyobacter during or after the event. Oh, I was so sick!

But I do drink out of public water fountains without a thought. I too have a bit of a psychological aversion to drinking water out of glasses or bottles filled from a bathroom sink, though I'll do it.

[strongly considers switching to the Camelbak...]