Giant drinking fountain for marathons and races

by Hanaa, November 1, 2007 at 2:07pm

C3 Blog reader Erin commented about a giant drinking fountain that was used in the Hartford (CT) Marathon earlier in October that saved thousands of disposable water bottles from being used. I was impressed and had to find out more.

Pure Tech Waters of America teamed up with United Technologies (primary sponsor of the marathon) to figure out a way to eliminate more than 20,000 disposable water bottles and cups that are seemingly everywhere at races and make the Hartford Marathon one of the greenest marathons in the U.S. Together, they developed a 70 foot long water fountain with 40 spouts that received their water from an attached 2,700 gallon tank of purified (through reverse osmosis) water.

Check out these pictures from the race:

It's great to see that people are out there thinking creatively about ways to eliminate unnecessary waste!

If you are interested in bringing this great green water fountain to your next race, please contact Jim Megee, Sustainability Officer for Pure Tech Waters of America, at jmegee@brionis.com.

Are you a runner? Have you noticed other ways races are getting greener? Comment away!