Drinking water symbol

A tap or fountain with falling water, marking water safe to drink.

Also known as: Potable water symbol, Water fountain sign, Drinking water sign, Safe to drink symbol

Everyday & digitalStandard profile

Meanings

A tap or fountain with falling water marks a supply safe to drink. Its negation matters more than the symbol itself: the same image inside a red circle with a bar means the water is not potable, and that sign is the one worth recognising.

Common modern usageVerified fact
Identifies a supply of water that is safe to drink — a fountain, a tap, or a filling point.
Contexts: Public information
Common modern usageVerified fact
Has a prohibition counterpart that is more consequential than itself: the same pictogram in a red circle with a diagonal bar marks water that is not safe to drink, common on trains, campsites and building sites.
Worth stating plainly because the two differ only by the red ring, and the negative form is the one it is dangerous to misread.
Contexts: Public information
Common modern usageCommon usage
Is drawn variously as a tap, a glass being filled, or a drinking fountain with an arc of water, which vary by country and by era.
No single canonical drawing is asserted here.
Contexts: Public information
Common modern usageVerified fact
Is a public information symbol rather than a safety sign, so it carries no shape-and-colour safety grammar. It identifies a facility and may be drawn in any colour that suits its setting.
Contexts: Public information

Visual description

A tap or spout shown in profile with an arc of falling water beneath it, sometimes filling a glass drawn below.

Symmetry: none
Orientation: upright

Commonly confused with: Drinking fountain symbol
One states that water is potable; the other marks a facility. They appear in the same buildings.

Compare: Drinking fountain vs drinking water →

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but early or supporting evidence is limited, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.

Sources

Safety sign
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what the symbol depicts, its shape-and-colour category, and any ISO reference number it reports. The standards themselves are paywalled and were not consulted, so nothing here is treated as an official definition.
ISO 7001
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what the symbol depicts, its shape-and-colour category, and any ISO reference number it reports. The standards themselves are paywalled and were not consulted, so nothing here is treated as an official definition.
Drinking water
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what the symbol depicts, its shape-and-colour category, and any ISO reference number it reports. The standards themselves are paywalled and were not consulted, so nothing here is treated as an official definition.

Last reviewed 2026-07-31

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Public information symbols

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Meanings

Common modern usageVerified fact

Identifies a supply of water that is safe to drink — a fountain, a tap, or a filling point.

Contexts: Public information

Common modern usageVerified fact

Has a prohibition counterpart that is more consequential than itself: the same pictogram in a red circle with a diagonal bar marks water that is not safe to drink, common on trains, campsites and building sites.

Worth stating plainly because the two differ only by the red ring, and the negative form is the one it is dangerous to misread.

Contexts: Public information

Common modern usageCommon usage

Is drawn variously as a tap, a glass being filled, or a drinking fountain with an arc of water, which vary by country and by era.

No single canonical drawing is asserted here.

Contexts: Public information

Common modern usageVerified fact

Is a public information symbol rather than a safety sign, so it carries no shape-and-colour safety grammar. It identifies a facility and may be drawn in any colour that suits its setting.

Contexts: Public information

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but early or supporting evidence is limited, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.

Sources

Safety sign
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what the symbol depicts, its shape-and-colour category, and any ISO reference number it reports. The standards themselves are paywalled and were not consulted, so nothing here is treated as an official definition.
ISO 7001
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what the symbol depicts, its shape-and-colour category, and any ISO reference number it reports. The standards themselves are paywalled and were not consulted, so nothing here is treated as an official definition.
Drinking water
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what the symbol depicts, its shape-and-colour category, and any ISO reference number it reports. The standards themselves are paywalled and were not consulted, so nothing here is treated as an official definition.

Last reviewed 2026-07-31

Meanings

Visual description

Related & commonly confused symbols

Meanings

Visual description

Related & commonly confused symbols