西宮北口駅に給水機が設置されてる。でも常温

A water refill station has been installed at Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station.
(Thanks to Nanase, Hiraken, and Atama ga Bossa Nova for the tips!)

Here it is↓

It looks like a new spot where you can fill up with water for free.

It seems installation began on September 13.

On the floor map, it’s here↓

Around next to the restroom.

We tried it out

Here’s our report on what it was like.

So we brought a water bottle and gave it a try.

There seem to be two ways to use it. One is the dial type, where you set your bottle down and turn the dial, and the other is the lever type, like a water dispenser where water comes out when you press it.

With the dial type, you don’t have to hold the bottle, but for some reason Yumacchi is holding it anyway.

This is the lever type. Easy to use. The water pressure seems to be the same for both.

Here’s what it looks like with a slightly larger bottle placed inside. I think even those huge sports bottles would fit if you tilt them a bit.

But here’s one important thing to note.

It’s room temperature. This water.

This is part of NATS, an initiative in which the four neighboring cities of Nishinomiya City (N), Amagasaki City (A), Toyonaka City (T), and Suita City (S) cooperate and collaborate beyond prefectural boundaries.

⇒This initiative was made possible through a partnership among the four cities, Hankyu Railway, and Water Stand Co., Ltd., which operates a water server rental business. The aim is to reduce plastic waste by encouraging the use of personal bottles.

But seriously, why room temperature?

We asked someone in charge at the Nishinomiya City Environmental Bureau about that.

Apparently, for this initiative, room-temperature units have been installed at two stations and cold-water units at two stations across the four cities.

They said there is a certain level of demand for room-temperature water, such as from people who want to avoid chilling their bodies, so both types have been installed for this trial experiment. Personally, I would’ve preferred cold water. But it might be nice for the coming season.

Since it’s an experiment, it will run until November 11.

Another thing we wondered was:

Why next to the restroom?

The water refill station installed this time isn’t the common bottled type.

It’s a direct connection to the water supply, so it needed to be placed near a water pipe, which is why this location was chosen.

This refill station apparently has two types of high-performance water purification filters.

(The small tank sitting next to the refill station is for drainage.)

By the way, Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station apparently saw 200L of use in one week. (Neighboring Amagasaki apparently had the most, at 300L. Well, theirs is cold water and apparently located in a break room.)

Isn’t that pretty impressive?

If you were buying 500ml of water for 100 yen, that means everyone collectively saved the equivalent of 40,000 yen. Amazing! The environment matters, of course, but money matters too.

Speaking of which,

They were also selling water bottles at the MUJI in Gardens that opened the other day. Since the water is room temperature, you don’t need a thermos, so something light and easy to carry seems good. Is a room-temperature water boom coming??