Maybe you *do* have more out west. I have a memory--but from the 2000-zeros--of a town in Pennsylvania with a public watering trough left over from olden days. Even then, when bottled water wasn't quite so ubiquitous, it prompted thoughts like these. I know when Wakanomori took the kids on their bicycle journey to Canada, they noted where there were still public fountains on town commons (answer: not everywhere, for sure. Still in a few places, though. Or at least one place.)