The Truth about UWS Water Fountains? Disheartening

“It’s one thing to have the resource and another to be able to access it,” said Council Member Gale Brewer in her most recent newsletter.

The councilwoman has been a longtime advocate for water-fountain accessibility in NYC. In fact, the bill she sponsored, now Local Law 93, passed in July and launched a 10-year project of installing at least 50 new fountains at park entrances.

But Brewer didn’t stop there. Using the NYC Open Data Portal and the Parks Department’s “Cool It!” map, her summer interns surveyed a total of 216 water fountains throughout Central Park, Riverside Park, and public playgrounds in the Upper West Side’s 6th District.

The interns based their measurements on usability, rates of flow, and drainage. And what they found was astounding.

Twenty-six percent of the water fountains in Riverside Park don’t work, and 77 percent of water fountains in Central Park drain poorly, if at all.

When it comes to playgrounds in the 6th District, the interns found that 20 percent of water fountains are out of order. Brewer herself noted that the combo fountain and bottle filler she helped fund for Sol Bloom playground breaks down regularly after it is repaired.

Lastly, 17 fountains in the nearby areas were closed due to construction, 15 listed on NYC websites as accessible were actually inside private Parks Department offices, and 17 that were listed weren’t there at all.

“It’s crazy that we’ve come to accept spending money on harmful single-use plastic water bottles filled with what’s normally a free public amenity,” Brewer wrote in the newsletter.

She went on to explain that her new legislation, though a step in the right direction, is not enough, and she will continue to advocate for more. On Wednesday, Aug. 13, she wrote a letter to the Parks Department, insisting that they address the issues found by her interns and start the proper repairs.

“Considering the amount of outdoor activity during the summer, it is imperative to not only have basic access to water for health and safety, but also to have the ability to refill personal water bottles to reduce dependence on single-use plastics,” Brewer wrote to the Parks Department.

Exact survey statistics concluded by her summer interns can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_lLRnZEiuA5sHJAwMTHsOeE2fRnSjRewytjChNg3HzU/edit?gid=1489243157#gid=1489243157