Yesterday (June 24) after much public complaining, the City of Seattle admitted it had only turned on 20% of the water fountains in the city. Last year, most were kept off the whole year because of pandemic concerns. This year, they got a very late start and they said that it is taking longer than usual because many of them have problems after be shut off for a year and a half… They are taking a lot of heat for this. It could be the bureaucratic government inefficiencies that caused this, or it could be another ploy to keep homeless out of the parks. Water is essential for everyone, and should be considered a basic human right. Not to mention this last year has been tough for folks experiencing homelessness. Many of my neighbors have put locks on their outside faucets but I have made sure mine has been available and it has been getting a lot of use by our camping neighbors. The city is now accepting responsibility and say they can get everything turned on by July 15th.
Of course this is also affecting biker riders. I have 2 bottle cages on my bike but I hate carrying 2 bottles of water. One bottle should be enough riding around the city, but this last year I have been thirsty a lot because so much is turned off. But that all should be over soon and I think it is interesting how many water fountains I use. You get to know where they are on your routes and can plan where you can fill up. I normally don’t drink much on rides but in a heat wave like we are in right now… I am thinking a lot about it. Sometimes there are hidden parks that have fountains like the famous hat and boots one in Georgetown.
Parks usually are the best places to find water but there are also a lot of pea patches around that are only sometimes helpful. The Beacon Hill Food Forest had to take off the handles because people would sometimes leave them on, unfortunately.
On my routes, I know the secret water locations, but when I am places that I don’t go often, I have to plan out how to hit a park half-way through my ride. There are some places I stop a lot. The park on the I-90 trail at the top of Mercer Island has just put a new bottle fill fountain next to the bathrooms. This must get a lot of use and might be the most used water fountain in King County. There are some big “water deserts”. I don’t think there is any water between the Kent baseball fields on the Interurban trail and Cecil Moses Park just South of South Park. I have ridden the East Lake Sammamish Trail several times and I can’t think of any water between Lake Sammamish State Park and Marymoor, but I might be wrong about that. Again, you get to know the areas you ride the most. My favorite water fill ups on my routes are – Kent fields, Cecil Moses, Jefferson Park, Seward Park, Be’er Sheva Park, Gas Works Park, Log Boom Park in Kenmore, Wilmot Gateway Park in Woodinville, Aubrey Davis Park on Mercer Island, Myrtle Edwards Park, Alki Beach, West Seattle Water taxi dock, and downtown. And if you haven’t discovered it yet, I love the new water and bike station in the lower level of the new building called “2andU” on 2nd and University.
Anyway, what does it take to get more bottle fill fountains like was just put in on Mercer Island. I understand that it might attract homeless people, but governments are just going to have the guts to do it and serve the people what they want… Water is kinda important.