Outdoor Fountains And Public Policy

The very first American city to implement a tax on high calorie drinks was Berkley, California in February 2014. The purpose is to get men and women drinking more water and other natural drinks by raising the price tag of soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks. Efforts were made to find out the state of neighborhood drinking water fountains in both high- and low-income neighborhoods. By developing a mobile GPS application, analysts were able to gather data on Berkley’s drinking water fountains. Investigators then used US Census data to find out even more about the economic and racial issues that sculptures affected the city. By cross-referencing the water fountain sites with the demographic information, they were in a position to establish whether access to functioning fountains was class dependent. Each water fountain and the demographics of its surrounding area were reviewed to reveal whether the site of the fountains or their level of maintenance revealed any link to income, race, or other factors. The fact that the fountains were working was not a guarantee that they were well-maintained, since quite a few were in need of maintenance and repair.