Dear editor,
To put it bluntly, water is the essence of life. Access to clean water is recognised as a human right by the United Nations, it is integral to our health, dignity and prosperity.
Water is our most vital and primary resource so it is startling that there is not a single free public drinking fountain in Bedford which is maintained by either the council or central government.
The benefits free public water fountains bring are immense. They cut down on single-use plastic water bottles – of which one million are bought worldwide every minute – and give us a free alternative to sugary and intoxicating drinks.
The United Kingdom is lagging behind much of the world when it comes to access to free drinking fountains.
Free water fountains are part and parcel in European urban centres and have been embraced in Australia, where following a unanimous vote by residents, the town of Bundanoon has banned all single-use plastic water bottles since 2009.
Not enough
All residents should be incredibly dismayed that in all of Bedford, there is only a single free public water dispenser, located rather obscurely on the ground floor of the Harpur Centre.
While this is of course a good start, a single indoor free public water fountain is simply not enough to accommodate a sprawling and fast-growing town and borough like Bedford.
Despite its obscure location, this dispenser has filled the equivalent of 11,500 drinking bottles since its installation in 2021, its burgeoning popularity stands testament to the utility of drinking fountains in public places.
The costs of installation and maintenance are negligible compared to the benefits drinking fountains bring. Water fountains are crucial public utilities which are worth their weight in gold, it’s high time we see more of them in Bedford.
Functional public water fountains were not always a rarity in the urban centres of Britain.
The first drinking fountains were set up by the Metropolitan Free Drinking Association in London during the Victorian era at a time when most would pop down to the local pub to quench their thirst with a pint.
Beer was safer than drinking water from dirty public pumps, such as the pump in Soho John Snow deduced to be the source of the local cholera outbreak.
These ‘temperance fountains’ were ornately designed and bore deeply religious messaging, providing users with clean piped water, a safe alternative to beer. However, many of these fountains fell out of use and were demolished in the 1950s.
Full of rubbish
Today those that remain are in a dry, derelict state and are not suited for the public realm as they are not accessible to all.
One of the drinking fountains set up by the erstwhile Metropolitan Free Drinking Association is the one located in the southeast corner of St Paul’s Church on St Paul’s Square in Bedford. The fountain was erected in 1883 and is sadly in a state of disrepair.
It is bone dry and of no public use.
Its basin has been used for rubbish and it has haphazardly been cordoned off with a large dustbin (ironically, maintained by the council) next to it emitting a putrid smell.
Another drinking fountain in Bedford Park has been subject to vandalism and is also in a poor state. It’s rather ironic that just steps away from this disused drinking fountain, a council-maintained water fountain for show remains operational 24 hours a day.
Perhaps a sign of the priorities of the Council? If restored, both these fountains could provide thousands of litres of free clean drinking water to all and help cut plastic pollution in Bedford.
Some progress has been made towards reestablishing more public water fountains in Britain. In 2019, the Mayor of London partnered with Thames Water to install over 100 water fountains in high-footfall areas across London.
Other metropolitan boroughs such as Hull and Brighton have installed water fountains in recent years.
These fountains have proved to be widely popular amongst the public and have increased footfall in the areas they have been set up. Many users have eschewed expensive and environmentally damaging single-use plastic bottles to take advantage of this free public utility.
There is of course, a commercial vested interest which has prevented the proliferation of free public water fountains.
Low priority
In 2010, Network Rail staunchly opposed the institution of public fountains at railway stations as this would have resulted in retailers seeing their profits from sales of bottled drinks slashed (they relented in 2018 and have now added drinking fountains to a number of stations).
Aggressive marketing campaigns by rapacious drinks companies have hooked in ever greater slices of consumers, especially children. Evian recently announced it would be charging spectators £5 for each refill of their water bottles at Wimbledon.
7.7 billion single-use plastic bottles are bought every year in Britain, creating copious amounts of waste that can take as many as 500 years to decompose.
For too long, local authorities have considered public drinking fountains a low priority, if a priority at all.
As temperatures continue to rise and heatwaves become more frequent, it is imperative that more public drinking fountains providing free, clean and high quality water are made available in high-footfall areas in Bedford and elsewhere.
Refilling water bottles should become the norm in our public spaces while buying single-use plastic bottles should become implausible.
Bedford Park and an outdoor Town Centre fountain placed conspicuously would be a good start.
Jamil Ahmed
Maitland Street, Bedford
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