Filling a Water Bottle For the First Time

Given the revolt of many people (including me) against bottled water, carrying one's own water bottle is slowing becoming a social norm. The trend has been noticed by drinking fountain manufacturers, who now offer water fountains that fill bottles, easily, without having to juggle the valve of a drinking fountain.

When I first encounter one of these bottle-filling fountains, I couldn't figure out how it worked. That's because I have years and years of conditioning that drinking fountains have buttons, and when you push a button, water is dispensed. So my bottle just sat on the platform while I searched for a button. Finally, someone took pity on me and showed me how it worked. You raise the bottle toward the fountain, and an electric eye detects the presence of the bottle and the water flows. Take the bottle away, and the water stops.

Why this design? Why not button? The story is that to avoid germ fears, designers needed to make the fountain touchless. But like me, other users were baffled about how to fill their bottles. So the designers added graphics to illustrate what to do. I think there were graphics on the one I first used, but I was so into button-pushing mode that my mind completely ignored them.

But what is really cool (once you learn how to use these things) is that some models have a digital readout showing how many bottles have been filled (nice feedback for social norming. See WSJ, March 25, B1 for more.