100 Fountains
What if being a New Yorker meant drinking from a network of beautiful fountains? The 100 Fountains competition will bring international artists to NYC for a summer-long exhibition of creative drinking fountain concepts. Millions of New Yorkers will sample and judge the entries throughout the city, and will never see a drinking fountain the same way again. Beautiful in form and concept, the winning entries will result in new, permanent drinking fountains that will enliven our streets and attract tourists while furthering New York City’s reputation as a global leader in design, innovation, and sustainability. Could this be the beginning of a "drinking fountain revival" in NYC?
What do New Yorkers really think about drinking fountains? For our latest work on drinking fountains in NYC check out Pilot Project’s “Respect the Fountain” flash mob performances on YouTube
New York City has some of the best drinking water in the world. Thanks to design foresight going back more than a century we have well-planned aqueducts, distribution systems and protected natural watersheds. But this may not always be the case. Aquifer pollution, lack of funds for infrastructure upgrades, and harmful chemicals and heavy metals in local piping all threaten the quality of NYC’s drinking water. Meanwhile, buying bottled water is harder and harder to justify: It generates tremendous waste, comes packaged in petroleum, arrives by truck and increases corporate control of the water market. The more we spend on bottled water, the less investment we can expect to see in our public water infrastructure. Yet NYC consumes over 1.25 billion bottles of water each year - enough bottles to wrap around the earth 6 times!
Our goal is to ensure that public drinking fountains are functional, lovable, and accessible to all. We see a great opportunity to create new icons for New York City – icons that express sustainability, community, and chic urbanity.
100 Fountains and associated research has been generously supported by the Environmental Protection Clinic at the Yale Law School.
WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT THIS PROJECT
Iconic Infrastructure / Water in the Streets / Thirst-Quenching Urban Art
For more on drinking fountains and water infrastructure
check out 100 Fountains on 
100 Fountains - 90-page project proposal,
budget and research report; Hardcopy
with budget details available on request
Pilot Projects Inteviewed on NPR:
"For the Love of Fountains"
Our-Water.org - cultural events at NYC
drinking fountains
"Respect the Fountain" - Union Square Park
"Respect the Fountain" - New Yorkers line up for our great drinking water and pay homage to public fountians!
