Mountains of fountains: NYC council wants 500 more water fountains around the boroughs

If a new NYC Council bill becomes law, the Big Apple will get 500 new water fountains, complete with nifty water bottle fillers, over the next five years.

Intro. 900 — dubbed the Hydration for All Act, sponsored by Manhattan Council Member Keith Powers — aims to provide more fountains throughout the five boroughs. The fountains would be installed in various public spaces, including NYC parks, and would be accessible to those with disabilities.

Powers said in a press release that the bill is necessary because 89% of water fountains in the Big Apple do not include water bottle fillers — a feature that environmentalists say could potentially help the environment. Powers added that clean drinking water in public spaces is “critical” to keeping New Yorkers safe and healthy.

“Access to clean, safe drinking water is a basic human right,” Powers said. “Everyone, including New York’s most vulnerable populations, deserves access to water. Especially during the hottest months, heat exhaustion and dehydration can be dangerous and even deadly. Clean drinking water, available in public spaces, is critical to keeping New Yorkers safe and healthy.”

The council member’s office reports that very little publicly available information exists on how many city-managed locations have fountains and whether any of those fountains need maintenance. The office conducted a survey in Manhattan over the summer and found that of the 37 park spaces sampled, 35% did not have any fountains.

The Hydration for All act requires the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), to install the fountains by 2030. Each borough would get at least 50 fountains.

During a testimony on Monday about the bill, DEP Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala said the proposal is not doable.

“While we support any effort that encourages more people to drink our tap water, we, unfortunately, do not believe that this proposal is feasible,” the commissioner said, adding that a project of this scale would cost the city around $20 million.

Aggarwala said the DEP does not currently maintain any water fountains, so managing the proposed new ones would require hiring a new, dedicated staff, suggesting that it could possibly lead to a water rate increase.

“It is not clear that this would be a legitimate use of water rate funding, so we would need appropriations from general tax levy funding,” he said during the testimony. “We are happy to work with you to develop programs to ensure access to drinking water around the city, but we strongly believe that this proposal is not the best way to achieve that goal.”

Meanwhile, Manhattan City Council Member Julie Menin, who co-sponsored the bill said installing the accessible fountains will help improve the city’s environment.

“I am proud to co-sponsor Intro. 900, which seeks to install 500 drinking fountains with water bottle filling stations by 2030, supporting not only the health and well-being of the community but also reducing New York’s carbon footprint by encouraging the more environmentally responsible option of reusable water bottles,” she said.

The numbers underscore Menin’s point. According to statistics from GrowNYC.org, an environmental nonprofit in the city, New Yorkers throw away a whopping 1,579,600 pounds of plastic bottles and jugs weekly.

The organization reports that more than 15,000 plastic bottles and jugs are trashed in the city in a single day.

An Upper West Side climate action group is a local nonprofit in favor of the bill.

“The Hydration for All Act is a planet-forward solution to the waste and pollution created by discarded single-use plastic water bottles,” said Sharon Waskow of It’s Easy Being Green.