Original photo by MAXPPP/ Alamy Stock Photo
The arrival of autumn 2010 in the City of Light brought with it a bold public experiment in the form of a new drinking fountain in the Jardin de Reuilly. As with other public drinking stations in Paris, this one connected to a well-maintained system of water sourced from underground wells and the Seine and Marne rivers. But it had a twist: With the press of a button, visitors were treated to a stream of chilled H2O infused with carbon dioxide, providing a steady supply of sparkling water.
Oops, incorrect!
It's a fibEighteenth-century English theologian and chemist Joseph Priestley may be most celebrated for his discovery of oxygen, but his work with gases also fueled the development of carbon dioxide-enhanced drinking water.
The concept of what locals call la fontaine pétillante didn't originate in this corner of Europe; sparkling water fountains first surfaced in Italy around 2009. Yet the idea certainly seems tailor-made for France, the country of origin for popular mineral water brands such as Evian and Perrier. Paris is also home to famed water-spouting structures such as Fontaine Saint-Michel and Fontaine des Mers. Several sparkling water fountains can now be found throughout Paris, and the city has the ultimate goal of installing at least one in each of the city's 20 arrondissements.
From an aesthetic standpoint, the sparkling water fountains are hardly on par with the ornate older fountains; one reviewer recalled a graffiti-tagged fountain as seemingly "designed to troll visiting fantasists with its simple look and battered condition." Yet this same reviewer described the fountain’s cool, bubbly water as "utterly delicious." Considering that the water is free, and that an estimated 12 pounds of plastic waste per year is saved when a family of four ditches plastic bottles for tap water, this citywide initiative should do its part to help keep Paris relatively clean and affordable.
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The American locale known as the "City of Fountains" is ______.
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The American locale known as the "City of Fountains" is Kansas City, Missouri.
Some European spots have free wine fountains.
While Paris has provided a public service by bringing sparkling water to the masses, it lags behind other European locales when it comes to free-flowing servings of another beverage festive travelers crave. Wine fountains have unsurprisingly proved popular at various spots, most notably in Villa Caldari, Italy, and Ayegui, Spain. In both cases, the fountains are operated by wineries stationed near traditional Christian pilgrimage routes — Italy’s Cammino di San Tommaso and Spain’s Camino de Santiago. Similarly, both places encourage participants to enjoy the free wine responsibly, as more can easily be purchased if desired. While there will always be freeloaders who scoff at the honor system, those who intend to continue the walking path are advised to practice moderation, as even the most devoted pilgrims can lose their way with too many drinks under their belt.
Tim Ott has written for sites including Biography.com, History.com, and MLB.com, and is known to delude himself into thinking he can craft a marketable screenplay.
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