Enumclaw City Council Approves New Public Drinking Fountain Sculpture

On Monday, the Enumclaw City Council unanimously approved a resolution accepting the Spring to the Tap Fountain Sculpture into the city's public art collection and approving it to be placed in downtown Enumclaw upon completion.

The drinking water fountain project, proposed and sponsored by Enumclaw nonprofit Spring to the Tap, went through an extended public comment phase led by nationally-renowned bronze sculptor Ross Brown. Beginning in January of 2015, Brown released sketches of the future fountain during an open presentation at the Enumclaw Public Library. After incorporating public input into the design process, Brown finished a 1/3 scale model of the fountain in August 2016. The model was showcased at Enumclaw's Art in the Garden event, the Arts Alive! Gallery, the Enumclaw Public Library, and the Enumclaw City Hall. At each venue, the public contributed comments that will help inform Brown as he designs and casts the final piece. The majority of the comments indicated a welcoming and enthusiastic response to the sculpture.

Three sketches proposed by artist Ross Brown last January.

In October, the Enumclaw Arts Commission moved to recommend the fountain sculpture project to the Enumclaw City Council. The recommendation, along with presentations by Brown and the Spring to the Tap board, was made in November.  Council members and the mayor commented positively about the fountain project. And finally, at their first meeting of 2017 this week, the council voted with unanimous approval.

The city council recognized Spring to the Tap's vision of the fountain as a "longstanding functional and artistic symbol of our well-being and our commitment to the health of our community, its people, and our environment." As both a creative sculpture and practical drinking fountain, the arts commission and city council welcomed an addition to its art collection that enhances "both aesthetics and community pride in Enumclaw as well as providing fresh drinking water as a public service."

A model of the Spring to the Tap fountain.

Ross Brown will now begin work on the full-size fountain. We will post the timeline for completion when we have more information. The fountain will be installed on the northeast quadrant of the intersection between Cole Street and Stevenson Avenue.

Spring to the Tap is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness, creating alternatives, and sustaining action in advocacy for tap water. Formed as a small group of Enumclaw citizens, Spring to the Tap envisions a future with clean, accessible, and sustainable water for all.

Enumclaw Water Fountain Public Information Meeting Recap

Last Monday, Spring to the Tap hosted a public information meeting to share ideas, answer questions, and collaborate with the community about Spring to the Tap's proposal to install a drinking fountain in downtown Enumclaw. The meeting was led by Ross Brown, a nationally-renowned Enumclaw-based bronze sculptor, who will be designing and creating this unique piece of functional art from scratch.

During the meeting Ross presented his ideas for a uniquely-designed drinking water fountain to be installed on the corner of Cole Street and Stevenson Avenue in downtown Enumclaw (left). The video above is a condensed version of Ross' presentation given at the Enumclaw Public Library on January 26th (the premature ending is a result of technical difficulties).

The fountain will include both a traditional drinking water spigot and a bottle refilling mechanism. Its design will meet ADA standards for accessibility. Ross Brown also discussed how this drinking fountain will also represent both the local image of Enumclaw and the significance of global issues surrounding water resources.


Above are three Stage 1 concept sketches Ross Brown presented at the meeting for public review. We welcome any and all ideas that you think might improve the design in any way. Below are some suggestions taken at the public meeting:

• A spigot and bowl for passing dogs is a definite feature to be included in the final fountain.
• We will explore possible options in reusing or redirecting the water that normally drains away following the use of the fountain, including sanitation concerns.
• Also important is the inclusion of local elements that make Enumclaw unique, such as the image of Mt. Rainier and the featured wildlife tracks (including aquatic) and symbols important to the Muckleshoot Tribe in the design of the fountain.
• Other great suggestions from community members present at the meeting related to design appearance, aesthetics, and safety.

Using your input to hone his design, Ross Brown will begin the creation of a scale model drinking fountain as the next step in the project. Look for more public events leading up to the presentation of the model this summer!

We would love to hear from you! Do you have any suggestions for the design of the drinking fountain?

Please leave a comment below, email us, or reach out on Facebook or Twitter. 

Thanks, and we look forward to receiving your input!

San Francisco Bans Bottled Water on Public Land

This spring, the city of San Francisco passed an ordinance to prohibit the sale and distribution of single-use plastic water bottles on public property. 

This video highlights the San Francisco city leaders and community members who led the way and includes information on the passing and future implementation of the ordinance, and how it can serve as a model to reduce plastic pollution in cities around the world. 

The Cost of Installing a Home Water Filter

Not all of us are lucky enough to live in the Pacific Northwest, or get great water from natural springs like Enumclaw. What if you don't like the taste? Maybe you're concerned with contaminants, or the pipes in your home are getting old, or your body is more sensitive to additives in water (some doctors are prescribing bottled water, which as you will see is ridiculous), or maybe fluoride and chlorine just aren't your thing. Say you buy cases upon cases of bottled water, or even subscribe to a water cooler delivery service, because you can't stand tap. At the store it may seem like a good deal to buy a case of 24 for only $4.99 (especially when one is being sold for around $1.00), or get a blue five gallon jug delivered to your home or business for only $8.99. The question is: at what point does purchasing an under-the-sink water filtration system (reverse osmosis removes chlorine and fluoride) pay off? (When only considering cost. If you considered health effects, environmental effects, etc. it would "pay off" more quickly.)

I did do some math to get there, if you're uninterested in that process jump to the end to catch the answer to your question. 

First, let's go over the assumptions I made:

1. I'm assuming that your tap water costs $1.95 per CCF (100 cubic feet), the is the rate for the city of Enumclaw, if you're not in Enumclaw it's likely that your rate is equivalent or lower than this one.

2. I'm assuming that you really don't like tap water (as is the case for people who aren't supposed to drink it at all), meaning that most of your consumption is purchased water. I compared drinking 80 ounces of tap water to 80 ounces of bottled water, which is roughly equivalent to your recommended  daily intake of water, adjusted according to WebMD for modern humans (chances are that you're not running around all day) who get 20% of their daily water needs from the food you eat ("approximately 9 cups for women and 12.5 cups for men" I used 10 cups). This is equivalent to 4.7 16.9 ounce bottles a day (which doesn't seem practical, which is why I included water cooler and 24 pack cost).

It's very possible (and in fact almost always the case) that you don't just drink water, or like most of the population don't drink enough water. Juice, soda, or whatever will also contribute to your "water" intake, however it's impossible to calculate how much juice you're drinking etc., these are just general calculations which will give you an idea to how expensive bottled water can be.

I used three price points for bottled water, and in parenthesis is their respective cost for 80 ounces per day:

1. Expensive one bottle purchases (Pepsi and Coca-Cola brands): $1.79 per 16.9 oz bottle ($8.47 per day)

2. Moderately priced one bottle purchases: $1.00 per 16.9 oz bottle, a price is typical of vending machines ($4.73 per day)

3. Cheap one bottle purchases: $0.69 per 16.9 oz bottle ($3.26 per day)

4. 24 pack purchases: $4.99 per 24 pack ($0.98 per day)

5. Blue cooler purchases: $8.99 per five gallon water cooler from a common delivery service with a one-time ~$3 fee for a cooler stand ($1.12 per day)

I compared these to tap water ($0.0016 per day at 80 ounces) with the cost of a home water filter (the tap water cost is so low that you can barely tell the difference in the slope of the line). In one case I gave the bottled waters a $200 head start, as if you choose to install a $200 home water filtration system. In the second bottled water gets a $300 head start, for a slightly more expensive filter. 

Let's take a look at the results, in graph form (click to enlarge).

The horizontal axis is time in days, with the entire length being 365 days.
The vertical axis is cost, with the entire height being $1500, as you can see some of the prices easily eclipsed this mark, I will include the year-long cost for each at the end.

As you can see the only difference in the two graphs is the height of the tap water plus water filter line on the graph. The point of intersection between the lines is when the costs are equal, after that point it's money saved. What is the conclusion then? It's apparent from the graphs that it's cheaper to choose tap water, even if you purchase an expensive water filter. Here are the final numbers (colors correspond with the graphs):

If you drink tap water without a filter for a year it would cost $0.59 (yes, that's 80 ounces a day for the entire year). With the filters the one-year cost is $200.59 and $300.59.

If you buy expensive, $1.79 bottled water for a year it would cost $3,092.78.
The $200 filter and tap pays off in 24 days, the $300 filter pays off in 36 days.

If you buy moderately priced, $1.00 bottled water for a year it would cost $1,727.81. 

The $200 filter and tap pays off in 43 days, the $300 filter pays off in 64 days.

If you buy cheap, $0.69 bottled water for a year it would cost $1,192.18.
The $200 filter and tap pays off in 62 days, the $300 filter pays off in 92 days.

If you buy 24 packs of bottled water for a year it would cost $359.24.
The $200 filter and tap pays off in 204 days, the $300 filter pays off in 306 days.

If you buy 5 gallon water coolers for a year it would cost $413.16.
The $200 filter and tap pays off in 176 days, the $300 filter pays off in 265 days.

Conclusion: go with tap water. Even if you need to buy a filter to maintain your health or taste preferences it will pay off well within the year.