Water is a precious resource, and conserving it, a challenge for communities the world over.
As we continue our look at the Hunter and Central Coast Innovation Festival, we meet a man who is doing his bit for the cause… creating a drinking fountain that tackles some big environmental issues.
There are bubblers and then there’s the Freefill, a drinking station that’s a fusion of function and art.
Taking his cue from natural forms, TAFE industrial design student David Powers created a unique-looking fountain which is now installed in a picturesque position, overlooking Newcastle’s Dixon Park beach.
“I wanted it to blend with the environment and also be not polarising, not appeal to just old people or young people but really everybody.”
David undertook the project as part of his studies and with sponsorship from Hunter Water of some $17,000, his vision was able to become a reality.
And from runners on the go to young beach-goers working up a thirst it seems to be a hit.
As well as making the fountain attractive to use, he also set out to make it better for the environment, tackling the big issue of disposable water bottles.
“It’s also a bottle filler as well as a drinking fountain and that enables people to re-fill their bottles and the idea of that is that rather than having all of these disposable bottles, that get discarded or worse, end up on the beach, that they’ll re-fill them.”
It’s built from a fibre-reinforced concrete so should go the distance…as David ponders his next bright idea.
“The overall driver is to make a difference, a positive difference to the environment. So whether that be through more of these which encourage people to re-fill their bottles that’d be great but I’m also looking at other ventures as well in the industry.”
Want to watch other stories from our innovation series?
FROM INSPIRATION TO INNOVATION
A bubbler that you can use to fill up water bottles?! Who would have thought? Someone’s clearly an ideas man…