The 115-year-old fountain went up on Whitburn village green in 1897 for the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign. Now the community wants to refurbish the ageing monument to its former glory in time for the Diamond Jubilee. But the project will cost about £3,000 and villagers are being asked to make donations to fund the work.

The scheme is being led by John Shield, a warden at Whitburn Parish Church, after an idea by fellow church warden, Lorraine Hood. Mr Shield, 64, of Front Street, Whitburn, said: “It seems like a wonderful idea to renovate something which was presented to the village for an historic royal event, in time for this year’s Diamond Jubilee.

“The fountain is looking sadly neglected, and a substantial facelift is necessary to bring it back to its former glory.”

A monumental mason has assessed the fountain, which originally supplied drinking water. Professional cleaning and repair work is needed, while the fountain’s metal spire needs to be replaced.

Mr Shield added: “We are hoping to have a Diamond Jubilee event on the village green where people can come along on Sunday, June 3, for the unveiling of the refurbished fountain.”

Public drinking water fountains offer not only a practical use, but can be an attractive feature, and a pillar of a community such as this. Drinking Water Fountains offers an extensive range of outdoor fountains that would make a great addition to any public space, and keep your community hydrated.

Back in 2009, the Mayor launched a scheme by Hydrachill, whereby water stations installed in areas such as Hammersmith bus station offer the public the opportunity to fill up their own bottles with chilled water for just 20p. All proceeds of these water fountains are given to WasteWatch, an environmental charity.

There have been several other drinking fountain schemes across London in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games. In 2010, a pilot drinking fountain was installed in front of St Paul’s Churchyard, and has proven to be very popular: so popular, in fact, that its success is hoped to be repeated with up to 50 more fountains across the capital as part of the scheme.

Projects such as these are primarily to ensure the best hydration for residents of and visitors to the capital city, particularly with the rising number of visitors who will be heading to London this summer. But they also serve to reduce the waste generated by plastic bottles and will help keep the city tidy whilst it is in the global spotlight, and beyond.

Drinking Water Fountains celebrates any efforts to make use of water as a free and natural resource, and is thrilled that London is making such an effort to invest in public drinking fountains as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to bottled water.

For over 103 years, Haws Corporation has been manufacturing award-winning drinking fountains for a diverse set of industries. Haws works with educational centres, recreational parks and commercial properties delivering top quality drinking fountains to its customers. Haws Corporation is represented in over 80 countries and has manufacturing facilities in the United States, Singapore, Switzerland and Brazil. This dedication to global partnership ensures that Haws can meet local demands on a global scale.

There are myriad reasons to choose Haws products. They are at the forefront of cutting edge technology in drinking fountains, offering the newest, most innovative features and functionality for your specific project needs. All products and their components are of the highest quality, ensuring impeccable service and low-cost maintenance, as well as an extensive warranty. Haws pride themselves on customer support, meaning that the high-quality service doesn’t just end with their products. And equally as important, using a Haws HydrationStation can dramatically reduce the costs incurred by using bottled water, as well as the waste generated by the bottles, making them both an economically and environmentally sound investment.

Haws Corporation aims to continue providing innovation in the drinking fountain industry, and Drinking Water Fountains looks forward to delivering our customers top quality products from these pioneers of the drinking fountain.

Arundel Agenda 21, the community group behind the initiative, has also designed a reusable “collapsible water bag” for people to fill with water. The group was concerned about several issues, including the waste created by bottled water and the dangers to wildlife as a result of this waste. They were also unhappy about the cost of bottled water for the public, and wanted people to use a viable, safe and free alternative.

Spokeswoman Rita Godfrey said: “More people are now turning back to tap water and we want to make healthy tap water freely available to everyone visiting our town.”

The project has been supported by the South East of England Development Agency (SEEDA), West Sussex County Council, Arundel Town Council and Southern Water.

Drinking Water Fountains advocates the use of free public fountains as an economical and safe alternative to bottled water, and hopes there are more initiatives like that of Arundel Agenda 21.

Love Tap Water (LTW) has been launched by three local women in a move aimed at turning the tide against plastic bottled water. LTW has set about to overcome the detrimental effect of plastic bottles on the environment, and the lack of accessible, hygienic drinking water in Bath.

The ten modern dispensers will provide free, fresh drinking water, with the next four due to be put in during the summer. All ten will be funded by Alternative Source, a charity set up to raise funds for overseas clean water projects. In return, all of the profits from the sale of LTW stainless steel bottles will be donated to it and other water-based charities. Organisers say “a thorough care regime” will ensure a consistent high quality supply at all times, while their design will discourage direct mouth-to-spout contact.

Love Tap Water aim for residents and visitors to be able to drink the same good tap water they drink at home ‘on the go’. As bottled water also costs on average 141 times more than tap water, it is also a cost-effective option for customers.

Drinking Water Fountains promote both the health and financial benefits of water fountains, and we look forward to seeing the Love Tap Water project develop into a success for the residents of Bath.

that when we lose fountains, we also lose “public knowledge about the importance of investing in drinking water systems, which provide dependable, affordable and clean water.”

Drinking from a fountain is cheaper than buying bottled water; fountains take water-delivery trucks off streets, so there’s less traffic and fewer diesel emissions; they minimize the waste created by empty bottles; tap water is healthier than other packaged beverages; and fountains remind us of the fundamental connection between the natural world and our own well-being.

There are some who are afraid of getting sick from fountains, but microbiologists say the odds of contracting a disease this way are extremely low. Low levels of contaminants in the water should also not put people off using fountains; the cities where the “fountain renaissance” is taking off have the best tap water as they have good staffing, enforce anti-pollution laws and have excellent maintenance systems in place.

This fountain from a company called Street Furniture – www.streetfurniture.com – offers a unique style with the water drain integrated into the very design.

There are now only two drinking fountains on offer for the students to get water from, leaving students worried that queues will be too long for everyone to have reasonable access to fresh drinking water whenever they need it. The only alternative is to buy bottled water, which students feel is unfair. Streator Township High School’s cafeteria stopped its service of giving out free cups of ice water because of the litter and mess being left behind as a result. In reaction to this, around two-thirds of students decided to boycott the cafeteria altogether.

150 billion plastic bottles get thrown away each year; Find A Fountain wants to reduce the environmental damage caused as a result of this by instead promoting the use of free drinking fountains. They also promote the use of Aquatina Ltd’s reusable, collapsible pocket bottle to reduce waste.

Their goals are simple. They want to encourage the nation to drink water from fountains rather than opting for the pricey and environmentally damage alternative of bottled water. But just as important is trying to increase the number of free drinking water fountains available, and with the help of the public, they are mapping the locations of all the existing fountains to make them more easily accessible to people. Furthermore, by working with international projects such as WeTap, Find A Fountain eventually want to create a fountain mapping system that spans the globe.

Drinking Water Fountains promotes both the environmental and economic benefits of using water fountains, and we hope Find A Fountain’s campaign has continued success in encouraging and enabling access to free water.

Officials at The University of New Brunswick raised concerns about lead in water dispensed by drinking water fountains on campus. As a result, the university will replace about 50 water fountains. The university tested 550 taps and drinking water fountains on campus. Among those, about 90 fixtures had lead levels above the federal guideline for drinking water when the water samples were so-called ‘first-grab tests’ — water that is collected just as it starts to flow. Water samples taken during standard water tests, after a five-minute flush, showed only two fixtures exceeded the lead guidelines. Barb Nicholson, the associate vice-president of Capital Planning and Property Development at the university, said the university is going further than required and replacing 50 of the fountains that failed the first-grab tests. “We wanted to be able to say that water coming out of our water fountains is high quality water. So that’s why we’re above and beyond the Health Canada guidelines,” Nicholson said. “We’re replacing our water fountains on campus with filtration units so that as soon as that water comes out of the water fountain, it is high quality water.” Dr. Cristin Muecke, the district medical officer of health, told students the drinking water guidelines are based on lifetime exposure to lead from a water source. “These are guidelines that need to be followed by facilities to ensure that people can drink eight glasses of water a day for 70 years and not have to worry about potential health effects.” The university has already replaced 14 of its fountains. Safety for our customers is of paramount importance to us at Drinking Water Fountains, and we are pleased that the university has taken such positive steps to ensure people have access to drinking water fountains of top quality that are safe to use.