I hope I am not the only one disturbed by this image. It shows a row of six drinking fountains just outside the restrooms at a Lowe’s big box store. Having struggled with building codes, regulations and unyielding bureaucrats myself, I certainly don’t blame Lowe’s or the designer of the building for this unfortunate redundancy. This ridiculous scene is created by those that do not understand the spirit of a particular regulation and blindly follow guidelines.
Perhaps this bank of water fountains would make more sense if Lowe’s regularly hosted busloads of middle schoolers stopping by the store after soccer practice.
Allow me to get into the weeds a bit and explain how this happens. The building/plumbing code requires a certain number of drinking fountains based on the building’s use and occupancy (the maximum number of people allowed in a particular building). Rather than scattering the drinking fountains throughout the store — requiring miles of pipe — they are placed near the bathrooms where the water and sewer lines are located. The drinking fountains are staggered in height to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It is a great thing to provide customers with clean drinking water.
It is a great thing to make that water accessible to everyone including those with disabilities, but how about a little common sense?
For those who have never purchased a water fountain, they are expensive. Drinking fountains are also costly to install and operate, not to mention the 15’ of wall and requisite square footage dedicated to providing fresh water to six customers simultaneously. I will spare you from sharing the number of hungry children that could be fed with the money spent on these fountains or the number of wells that could be dug in remote villages. However, I do think this could be transformed into a compelling performance space for six individuals willing to develop a water show that syncs up with Top 40 musical hits. It could be marketed as the “Big Box Bellagio Fountain.” The only problem is transforming this into an assembly space would likely require more drinking fountains.