The Taranaki Medical Officer of Health says research showing only one in five public parks in the region had a water drinking fountain was a shock to him.
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"To be honest, I was quite surprised to find only one of our public playground areas actually had drinking water fountains," Dr Jonathan Jarman said.
"It has a huge amount of relevance because what do children do if they're being active, being outside and they want a drink of water? The problem is if there is nowhere they can get a drink of water they are more likely to carry bottles of sugary drink."
Dr Jonathan Jarman said installing more water fountains could help with childhood obesity and tooth decay.
"Taranaki is the second most affected region in New Zealand for childhood obesity - almost 20 percent, or 4500 children. We also have a large number of young children under the age of five who need general anaesthetic for tooth extractions due to tooth decay, and this is costing our DHB more than $200,000 per year.
"If we had more drinking water fountains where children could access free plain water it may stop them from turning to cheap sugary drinks when they are being active outside."
"It will greatly normalise that public drinking water is the best beverage for children and in fact the best beverage for all of us. All this sugary drink stuff is not good for your teeth and it's not good for for obesity.
New Zealand had the hottest summer on record over 2017 and 2018 and the Public Health Unit study conducted by Health Science graduate Tayla Hesseltine also highlighted that climate change would likely bring hotter summers, increasing demand for water fountains.
"The installation of more drinking water fountains in public areas makes a lot of sense as summer temperatures increase. It is much better if children can have free water from a tap rather than carrying around plastic bottles full of sugar," Dr Jarman said.
New Plymouth District Council infrastructure manager David Langford said the study highlighted the need for the council and Public Health Unit to work together to improve community health.
Mr Langford said the council, which regularly checked that existing drinking fountains were clean and functioning properly, was now working with the Public Health Unit to identify the best locations for new drinking water fountains to be installed.
The first two were planned for Ngamotu Domain and Kawaroa playground ahead of this summer.
"The goal is to work with the PHU to ensure the healthy choice is the easy choice," Mr Langford said.
It will cost about $6500 to install each new water fountain but it is not yet known how many will be required.