You boycott plastic bottles, you have invested in a water bottle and now you want to fill it! Yes but where ? The most logical seems to be the corner bar.
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Bars or restaurants have no obligation to offer you a glass of water for free if you are not a customer of theirs, even less to fill your XXL water bottle. On the other hand, if you have taken a drink there, they are required to give you access to drinking water for free. This also applies to take-out places like MacDonald’s, Burger King, KFC and others.
There are public fountains. Of course, in most parks and cities there are also water fountains. Specialized applications or websites have also mapped them. Examples include Bibulus, FreeTaps, Water-Map or, specifically for Paris, the Château La Pompe application. But beware, they are not yet exhaustive and not always updated. Not to mention that they sometimes only refer to fountains, but there are not only fountains in cities! You can also fill your bottle in large establishments open to the public (ERP) which can accommodate more than 300 people at the same time (such as stations and shopping centres). This is quite new since since the 1st January 2022, they too must give you access to drinking water.
But that’s not all. We must also talk about local initiatives that involve traders or liberal professions who agree to provide free access to drinking water. Some are referenced on applications, others put the information in the window, as in Paris with the sticker “Here I choose the water of Paris” Of course, this access is for you to drink, not to fill your child’s squirt gun. Let’s stay green!