Why Paris is the Water Example for the World

Water is a substance that every living, breathing, and moving being has to have on Planet Earth. For something that is an absolute requirement to life, access to clean drinking water is surprisingly difficult to come by in some areas of the world. According to the CDC, 780 million people do not have access to an improved water source worldwide. A large percentage of these people live in non-industrial countries but also some come from cities and towns in industrialized countries as well. Take the example of Flint, Michigan in the United States. Flint has over 95,000 residents and is located 68 miles north of the major city of Detroit. In 2014, nearly 9,000 children were exposed to lead-contaminated water from their tap for 18 months. Still to this day, Flint does not have 100% access to clean drinking water and its residents are forced to drink water out of bottles and jugs that are sent to the city. This not only creates a water crisis but adds a pollution problem to the mix.

However, it is possible to provide a large city with access to free clean drinking water. Paris, France with a population of over 2.1 million people has done just that. Today, Paris has over 700 free clean drinking fountains for public use, including its homeless population. This idea of providing citizens and tourists with access to free water stems from the 1800s and a man named Richard Wallace.

After the Franco-Prussian war, clean water became scarce and incredibly expensive throughout the city. The English Philosopher, Richard Wallace, saw this issue and went about creating as well as nancing fountains to be placed strategically all over Paris. Not all the fountains found in Paris today are still the original Wallace fountains but, using his idea of providing access to free drinking water became others ambitions for the health and safety of Parisians everywhere. A small number of these fountains in the city today are actually free sparking water fountains provided by public company, Eau de Paris.

For some parts of the world, this plan of free drinking fountains is impossible without first having access to clean water to begin with. Clean water is a living being’s right. Without this right stems an overwhelming amount of social justice issues from lack of education, health risks and much more. Even if this is near impossible for some parts of the globe, Paris should be a living and breathing example of how access to water should be, especially for those whose governments, private investors and billionaires who can afford to make it happen.

For a full map of Paris’ free drinking water fountains, you can find it at https://www.eutouring.com/map_drinking_water_fountains_paris.html.

Photo by Gautier Salles on Unsplash