open letter to KC parks dept

Open letter to the parks department

13 March 2005

One of my fondest memories of growing up in Kansas City in the 1970s is of the drinking fountains in the parks. They consisted of a bare pipe, from which a continuous burble of water eminated constantly. Not only could you drink from them, but in the hot summer it was possible to place a finger over the pipe and spray yourself or your friends to cool down.

Today I went to a park with some toddlers and to my dismay not only had the fountain been replaced with a valved drinking fountain head but the fountain was broken.

Unlike cities where the water supply comes from a nonreplenishable supply such as an aquifer or aqueduct, our water in Kansas City comes out of a river, and after we, as a city, are done with it, it is returned to the same river. So the only savings in shutting off the always-on drinking fountains must have been in water purification processing.

I would like to see a return to the park drinking fountains of my youth.

How difficult would it be, if I am mistaken about the wisdom of letting the fountains run all the time, to rig an apparatus with a single big button and a timer, so the button would be pressed and the fountain would flow for a minute or two, instead of the standard buttoned drinking fountain heads that are now found on the drinking fountains in our parks? That would be a good compromise in my opinion.

David Nicol
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