The greener drinking fountain

Today is St. Patrick’s day and I am leaving Chicago without seeing the river or parade. Sad, I know.

I did stumble upon some green I didn’t expect: a “green” drinking fountain at O’Hare International Airport.

Chicago Goes Green poster describing filtered water bottle filling station and drinking fountains

What makes this drinking fountain better then others?

Personally I think the filtration alone makes it fantastic! It is the touchless water bottle filler that makes things so green.

Two green drinking fountains that provide filtered water and bottle filling.

One thing about filling water bottles at the airport is the surprising difficulty of the task. Now that I have a clever little collapsible bottle it is even harder. Having a proper way to fill up makes things more hygienic and easier.

Action shot of a collapseable water bottle being filled from filtered water bottle filling station

Along with ease and hygiene is preservation of precious resources. Ideally people would recycle their plastic bottles together rather then toss them; unfortunately that doesn’t always happen. To help show what a difference such a system can make it would be nice to see some sort of numbers..

Numbers from the kid fountain/filling station.

Numbers from the adult fountain/filling station.

The numbers appear to be based solely on the number of “fills” performed. I don’t believe it considers the occasional mishap when people move in and out of the sensors range while filling. Still the idea that we are preventing so much plastic from being purchased and tossed is a good thing.

Overhead shot of the fountain / filling station at ORD

Overall the system is pretty straightforward and easy to use. In fact I had to sneak in and out of people to get the photos. Everyone seemed to be more then happy to fill a bottle, even if that was refilling a plastic Fiji water bottle. :-)

Time to get to the plane and enjoy the water during take off. Safe travels all.

- Mike