Project of the month/2010/october

Drinking water

How about a nice drink of water? Refreshing on a warm day, especially nice when one has worked up a sweat by collecting information for OpenStreetMap. We can sometimes forget that we need water to live. Sadly, not everybody can take for granted reliable access to safe drinking water.

On 28 July 2010, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that declares "the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights." In 2005, more than 3.5 Million people died of water-borne illness.

This Project of the Week is also the first Project of the Month. Add drinking water locations to the map. In some places we'll be adding public water fountains as a courtesy to outdoor exercisers, in others we'll be adding the critical public water access points.

Put drinking water on the map.

German translation

Tagging

Sources of drinking water are typically recorded in OpenStreetMap as a point.

• amenity=drinking_water
• name=* # if appropriate
• drinkable=yes or drinkable=no

Consider adding access=* when appropriate or date_on=* tags for seasonal water sources.