The basic drinking fountain—requiring you to bend over, press a button and slurp—was a steady seller for decades. Then, nearly 10 years ago, executives of Elkay Manufacturing Co. started noticing what they call "the airport dance."

More people were toting plastic water bottles. Rather than drinking from the fountain, they wanted to refill those jugs. It wasn't working.

The dance was a sort of shuffle done by travelers trying to tilt bottles at the proper angle for refilling without splashing water on their shoes.

Elkay, a family-owned maker of plumbing equipment based in Oak Brook, Ill., began rethinking the water fountain. In recent years, Elkay and rivals, including Haws Corp. and Oasis International, have introduced new types of fountains designed to refill bottles.

"We were really changing what a water cooler was," says Rod Magnuson, a product director at Elkay.