The Fresh Flow that I was using had to be plugged in.  I had originally
bought a fountain (Drinkwell) because my cat Otto was sticking his paws in
regular bowls of water.  I'd come home from work and the bottoms of the
bowls would be full of fur, dirt & food.  He was doing the same thing with
the Fresh Flow, because he couldn't see the stream of water.

One of the cats at work is afraid of everything.  When she was still pretty
young, she stepped in something icky and I took her to the sink to wash her
paw.  I turned on the water, she was fine.  I stuck her paw into the water,
she almost ripped half my skin off.  I was worried that she would be afraid
of the Drinkwell when I set it up at work.  She spent a long time just
watching it, then decided to get a closer look.  Stuck her nose right into
the stream of water and I thought, "She's never going to use this thing".
But she kept watching it and even slapped at the water with her paw.
Finally, she took a drink and has been fine with it ever since.  She's still
terrified of the sink, and won't even go into the small kitchen at work.

Give it a try.  Your scaredy cat might not think twice about the stream of
water.  The bowl is big enough so can drink right around the stream if she
doesn't feel brave enough to lap from it.

Liz