The German Blue Community / Blue City of Büdingen gets its first drinking fountain. It can be found on the market square. As well as drawing attention to Büdingen’s tap water, it also serves as a measure for climate adaptation.
The fountain promotes the idea of water as a public good, ensuring easy access to drinking water for all and encouraging the use of tap water instead of bottled water. A Blue Community is committed to these basic principles. So far, Büdingen has achieved this by installing water dispensers in the town hall and municipal utilities, organising Büdingen Water Day, and running the Refill Project, which enables people to refill their bottles at public facilities, restaurants and shops.
However, there is another effective way to highlight the value of tap water in public spaces. Munich, for example, provides free drinking water throughout the city via 90 drinking fountains. Berlin even has 249 drinking fountains in total. Both of these major cities are Blue Communities. Now, Büdingen is joining them. The municipal utilities installed the first drinking fountain in the former district town, next to the ‘Auf dem Damm’ market hall, last week and it has now been inaugurated.
The idea for the fountain came from the Senior Citizens’ Advisory Council, who made a request in autumn 2023. Horst Meige, the council’s chairman, explained that he had seen a similar fountain in a larger city and thought it would be a good addition to Büdingen too. The municipal authorities agreed, and the city council approved the budget.
For citizens and visitors
‘The idea came about in the summer of 2023, when it was very hot,’ said Monika Eichenauer, a colleague on the advisory board, adding that such public water dispensers would become even more important in future as temperatures rise due to climate change. The two thanked the city, the municipal utilities and Susanne Mahnke, the climate protection manager, who had arranged the funding. ‘This is a successful example of what the advisory board can achieve for all citizens,’ said First City Councillor Katja Euler (SPD), pointing out that nominations for the Children and Youth Advisory Board and Senior Citizens’ Advisory Board elections are still open.
Mayor Benjamin Harris (CDU) praised the choice of location: ‘It is the city’s living room, where people meet at the weekly market and visitors come to the old town.’
‘A drinking fountain is important not only for senior citizens, but also for small children,’ explained Meige. Jochen Heyermann, operations manager at the municipal utilities, mentioned another group: ‘Many children now always carry their reusable bottles with them and are used to having a place to refill them.’ There are two water dispensers at Wolfgang Ernst Gymnasium and one at Schule am Dohlberg. Along with the 15 refill stations, the city now has 16 locations where drinking water is available.
And not just in summer, because the plan is for the fountain to be in operation all year round. It was, of course, tried out right away at the inauguration: the fountain is designed so that you can either fill up a bottle or drink directly from it. Additionally, the idea arose to draw attention to how it works with a sticker. This is because the fountain has a photocell – the water flows when you hold your hand in front of it. However, this takes a few seconds, as the pipes repeatedly empty in between so that the water does not stand there for long.
