Finding a drink of water becomes a major winter problem for the unsheltered

Colandra Coleman, executive director of Joseph’s House, remembers the moment she realized the depth of the problem of dehydration for the unhoused.

About three months ago, she was leaving the Camden-based housing shelter for the evening. As she headed to her car, she warned some of the people awaiting the shelter’s 8 p.m. opening time that the police ticketed people for loitering.

One man blurted out in frustration, “Where are we supposed to go for even a drink of water?”

Common medical advice is to drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day to stay hydrated. But research shows that about one in every three adults isn’t hydrated, with Black people, African Americans, Latinos, and those with lower incomes being most at risk.

And for those who are unsheltered, finding free and clean drinking water is another hurdle in a long line of winter hardships. The risks of dehydration range from fatigue and headaches to confusion, disorientation, and kidney disease.

Patricia Clark, the office administrator for Joseph’s House for the last eight years, spent 25 years homeless. For her, getting enough water was a taxing daily chore.

“I had four- or five-gallon jugs,” she said, recalling a daily ordeal of filling up where ever she could and lugging the heavy containers to where she was staying.

However, slaking your thirst when you’re unhoused may not be as simple as using the nearest public building‘s water facilities or getting free water at a local business.

Coleman said public spaces such as hospitals and libraries also may not be equipped to handle those who are in the midst of a mental health crisis or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. As a low-barrier shelter, Joseph’s House accepts people who are active in their addiction or have severe untreated mental illness.

“All we ask is no violence and no drugs on the premises,” said Coleman, who grew up seeing the homeless in Center City from the office of her grandfather, Joseph Coleman, the city’s first African American president of City Council. “When you are unsheltered it is a hard road to go, particularly during winter. Folks don’t have anywhere to go to access water.”

Public drinking-water fountains were once prevalent, providing free public access to safe tap water. However, in Philadelphia, like many cities, drinking fountains have mostly faded away. According to a 2017 report by The Pacific Institute, the primary reasons are “the advent of commercial bottled water, decreased public investment in urban infrastructure, concern over the health risks of fountains, and a laissez-faire attitude toward public water systems.”

The public water fountains that are still functioning are usually shut down for the winter.

Almost a decade ago, the Philadelphia Water Department — under then-Deputy Chief of Staff Christine Knapp — was an advocate for investing in public drinking-water fountains, but underestimated the number of city drinking fountains and the cost of maintenance.

However, as Knapp moved on, the vision of creating a network of modern drinking fountains throughout the city withered. A Water Department spokesperson wrote in an email to The Inquirer that the agency does not have a list of or maintain public drinking fountains, but it does maintain hydration stations along Kelly Drive, which are usually switched off between November and April.

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The night Coleman was asked where to get water, she returned to the office to find bottled water, much of it donated by supporters, to distribute to the group milling around. But she knows that isn’t the permanent solution to providing something so essential.

The January 2024 Point-In-Time Count, a census of Philadelphia’s sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals, found that 976 people were living on the streets, up from 706 in 2023. Coleman said Joseph’s House serves between 150 and 175 people a day.

In addition to supplying water with meals, the organization also provides hot showers and laundry services. “I wash clothes, but I don’t have time to fold,” Clark said with a laugh.

One of Coleman’s longer-term solutions is to turn Joseph’s House into a 24/7 facility that doesn’t require residents to leave each day to fend for themselves for the eight hours that the facility is closed. And, in addition to providing more social services, Joseph’s House would be one answer as to where the unsheltered can access drinking water whenever needed.