Is it civic service? Gamified running? A way to get more kudos on Strava? Exactly.
What's the Deal?
Water Run is a runner-sourced map of public drinking fountains.
It documents fountain location, working status, seasonality, type (eg. bottle-filler, bubbler, dog bowl), and more.
Contributing to this map has both immediate and long-term benefits:
- Immediately: reliable access to working fountains increases.
- Long-term: repair requests are automatically submitted to 311.
Powered by Runners
This map is made by runners, for... everyone! By routing runners past fountains that haven't been checked in a while, we regularly canvas where drinking fountains are most densely placed.
But why runners? Runners are able to quickly test if a fountain works and move on. Compare this with cycling, for example, which lends itself to longer stretches in the saddle. Or walking, which tends not to cover much distance at one time. Each end of this pedestrian-spectrum has something to offer, but we're currently optimized for the biggest impact on the places where fountains are most dense: cities.