BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

There is a water fountain at the Point, it's near the entrance across from the Hilton.

Most of the city parks that have a ballfield or playground usually have a fountain in them.

there is one at riverview park if you're ever up that way. i was doing a trial run of pedal pittsburgh and that is the only fountain i could find.

There's one in Highland Park near the swimming pool but it was broken when I was there today

There's also a fountain in Schenley Plaza, outside the restrooms (SW corner).

It does seem like a cool thing to put on the 2011 BP Map though.

Also one at the very tip of the point before you go down the steps, but like you said, it's under construction..And that water is always gross and warm.

NorthShore def. does need some fountains down there! There is one by the jail/courthouse where you rent bikes but everytime i ride by it's off!! And they have an overhead mister type thing, which is off when i ride by all but one time..

I say we try to get some fountains put in place!!

I make sure when i'm around my work on 6th/Smithfield and i need water i'll go to Franktuary..the water fountain in there is VERY cold and refreshing.Right outside the door to Franktuary, in the church.

Here is a Map I started with just some of the things I know about,

Bike Racks I use,

art I like,

Coffee shops and bars

water fountains.

I made it public, I hope that means we can all add stuff to it.

It would be good to have a map with this kind of stud as well as stuff we need to avoid. (dangerous intersections, those grates stu was talking about... roads with really bad shoulders.

Let me know what you think.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=40.440546,-79.994674&spn=0.021753,0.038581&t=h&z=15&lci=bike&msid=116365302506009153140.00048a0c6117fb40745b4

if you stop at any playground there is usually a drinking fountain there. sometimes they arent really obvious at first because they wil be next to like, a neglectd trash can but trust me, they are there!

too bad pittsburgh doesnt have those fancy bubblers the west coast has...every person who took me around portland showed me the benson bubblers.

there is a googlemap of where they all are too!

i always wanted to have a bike race that you have to drink out of all the unlimited water fountains, unfortunately it seems they are being replaced.

parks with fountains that i know are working:

garland (closest structure in the park to the fire station), schenely (lots of them, one near the visitors center thing across from phipps, one by the tennis courts at the hilltop), friendship park (on the penn ave side in the middle), frick (lots, on regent sq side a tthe playground and on the squill side near the nature center), hobart st (near basketball courts closest to murray)

there is also a crazy waterpark playground in troy hill that no one knows about... it has a water fountain

i cant edit your map.... i think you can share it, but we cant edit, unfortunately... however you could do the same thing on deeplocal's maps!

Google maps can be set up to allow editing - under "Collaborate" tick "Allow anyone to edit this map".

Those bubblers are pretty but don't look terribly conducive to filling your water bottle.

there is a water fountain on the GAP that goes to a spigot on the side if you press a foot pedal... great for dogs and water bottles.

This is a good question. There's a decent fountain up on Mt. Washington, in the park where Beltzhoover turns into Bailey. It's a beautiful view as an added bonus.

Ok I set it up so that everyone can edit the map. Will try to add photos of the places I put pins as well as whatever information I can find.

Washington Blvd oval has an indoor bathroom and

a cold water fountin. It is a city park.

north park, south park, and hartwood all have fountains.

Thank you to everyone for pointing out various fountains.

It is true that most every city playground has some sort of fountain. My problem was the lack of fountains along routes supposedly built for walkers and bikers.

I rode from ~Glenwood Bridge, to Station Square, cross-town to the Point and North Shore, to the 31st Bridge. There is not a single fountain along the way that I could find. Doesn't seem right.

Fountain at the entrance to the point, saw a guy filling a water bottle this morning when I went past on the bus

I've stopped at Starbucks before and had them fill up my water. Usually they are pretty accommodating, especially so if its kind of dead in there.

I figured I've purchased enough $2 cups of coffee, they can give me a little of their superduper filtered water now and again.

Same with airports. Now that water is contraband and airport water fountains are rare and often out of service, I bring an empty bottle in and have the Starbucks inside the security fill it up.

Near Millvale, along the river trail, there's a WF in the big picnic shelter by the rowing club. The restrooms are locked, but you can always get water.

While not specific to topic, I've found that most small cemetaries will have a water spigot for people puting flowers on graves. I've used these a few times while out away from the city.

Most larger stores i.e. wal-mart and the like will have restrooms and water fountains

Not a public fountain but one of my favorite spots is Gus and Yaya’s Icy balls. It’s an old fashion vending cart in the Allegheny Commons. He has been selling snow cones, peanuts, and popcorn in the spring and summer months for over 50 years.

http://wikimapia.org/327013/Gus-Yaya-s

There are fountains on either end of the junction hollow trail. On the Oakland side there is a little playground next to a street hockey court with one and on the G-field end there is one kind of next to the courts/ playpark under the 376 bridge.

These get a lot of love from me

stu did you just abbreviate water fountain?

hehe icy balls.

i always kick myself for not having any cash on me to check that stand out. heard it's fabulous.

I love drinking water.

Sometimes with foutains in the park, I'm hesitant.

The fountain might be a quarter mile from the water main. I think about that water having been still in the pike. (With lead solder? In old fountains, lead pipe?)

There used to a lot of park fountains that ran continuously - wasteful of course, but I have no hesitation with them. The fleeting amount of metals the water would pick up while moving is so slight compared to sitting for hours (or days) does worry me.

There are some some fountains where I can wedge the handle open and hang out nearby for the 4 or 5 minutes it might take to get the worst metals out.

Why would you not go in and drink the REI water? I love it when businesses do public service.

Does anyone know if the old lead pipes for fountains in, say, Frick or Schenely have been removed?

in the greyhound downtown there is a water fountain you can walk up to

Lets Add public restrooms to the map as well. scary but off the top of my head I cant think of any at all

Fun game. I've put 4 markers down on the map, but only for fountains that I've used and can picture precisely. Pretty sure there's one in Mellon Park, and one in Westinghouse Park, but I'm not totally sure about locations. And there was one in E. Pittsburgh on Brinton Ave that I was delighted to find, years ago, but maybe it's been turned off now.

Mick - dehydration is, in most cases (all you'd find here), the worst of the two evils - it'll end your day a lot faster. Provided you do not habitually drink large quantities from any fountains contaminated by heavy metals, you're not suffering from chronic ingestion of heavy metals in other places, and you're not a small child/infant, taking a swig if you're dry and it's your only option is pretty darn safe. The human body can handle a lot, dehydration is one of the things it's NOT so good at.

My concern with open public fountains is not so much the heavy metals as the other crap. I think the bubblers are more likely to be self-cleaning than the push-button jobs. I drink from them sometimes, anyway, but I worry about things like Shigella and Giardia. They're pretty tenacious.

you could always just get some water purification tablets, (i was going to put a link in but I keep setting off the spam filter)

Giardia forms cysts in water. Chemical purification will not effectivly kill it. You need to filter it out. There is plenty of chlorine in municipal water anyway, so tablets aren't really necessary.

ooo... New World (N&S America + islands) Giardia is literally a killer - Old World giardia is a cake walk by comparison (had it, sucked, got over it, the flu is worse).

that being said, it's an oral-fecal contact disease (same with shigella, but that one was more uncomfortable) and there shouldn't be much fecal contamination in the plumbing to park playgrounds, even in the older pipes. Run the water for a few seconds to clear the spigot, and I wouldn't worry. Plus there's the chlorine/chloramine (depending on season, municipality) factor as an extra measure. I'd bet heavy metals (or even just iron) would be higher than

Caveat - having had and gotten over almost all of the "Boogey Men" diseases of the developing countries that most Americans flip out over, I do tend to have an atypical perspective on these things.

Regardless, if there's a map, it might be helpful for a distinction between bubblers, watterbottle/dog friendly fountains, and "other", for all the above discussed reasons. that way people can choose what suits them

I’ve seen a kid washing her dog in the public fountain in the park on Mt. Washington…She clogged up the drain and made a little tub for it…I don’t use that one anymore…

If you are worried about Giardia in fountains, are you not worried about the same from your home tap?

There is a fountain next to the log cabin just down from the skating rink in Schenley, and 2 around the oval.

I have gone into numerous food places that had fill your own soft drink areas and filled a water bottle with ice and water with no questions asked.

there shouldn't be much fecal contamination in the plumbing

I know, it's not the plumbing that worries me. It's the wildlife. Haven't you ever seen a pet lover lift her doggy up to drink from a water fountain? Or a squirrel bathing in one? Not to mention the children...

Thank you all for your replies. I was in desperate need of water and I went to the fountain at the point today

I know, it's not the plumbing that worries me. It's the wildlife. Haven't you ever seen a pet lover lift her doggy up to drink from a water fountain? Or a squirrel bathing in one?

I always try to drink from the water stream itself (being fresh and clean) and not lap it from the bowl.

New find:

Public water fountain at Young Field, just opposite 1308 Complete Street, for those of you with a GPS. It's a half block west of Shadeland, and accessible from either Bland Street or Complete Street. I'll try to add it to the map.

This is north of Marshall, about 3 blocks west of the cemetery on Brighton. Might be worth a detour on a hot day.

The fountain was working, but not terribly cold, when I tried it briefly at 8:00 this morning.

There is a drinking fountain and "mostly" public restrooms in the parkign garage adjacent to the Eliza Furnace Trail downtown. I think they are on the 3rd floor. You can take your bike up in the elevator....

There is a fountain along the jail trail detour. It doesn't work. I was displeased last week when It was hot, and i dumped what water I had remaining on my head and then tried to get water from that fountain. Shouldn't have done that. While not too far from there, I had to continue to the trailhead parking lot near the upmc parking lot to get my water.

Duplicate post - sorry