> "Please keep your bees out of my fountain,
> fish pond, swimming pool or some other water feature."

A suburban beekeeper requested my help with a similar
situation.  I stopped at the hardware store along the way,
and purchased a few of the cheapest plastic drop cloths
they had.  (Under a buck each.)

The problematic water source was a hot-tub.  We covered
the hot tub with the plastic, and tied it down around the
edges with a clothesline looped around the entire unit, thus
creating a 100% bee-proof seal.  (The beekeeper also provided
a few pans filled with pebbles and water near his hives as a
diversion.)  The owners of the hot-tub did not mind this, as they
had no intention of using the hot-tub until it was bee-free.

While bees continued to investigate the hot-tub area for a
few days, they soon gave up, and no bees were noted for
three days, at which point the plastic was removed, and the
hot tub was declared "open for business" again.

Now, we could have placed the alternative water source
near the hot tub, and then slowly moved it away to more
quickly get the bees to move, but this approach was
rejected as "attracting MORE bees to the neighbor's yard",
which was clearly a non-goal.

A good "demo" to calm fears is to temporarily remove the
alternative watering station once it has attracted a following,
put some water (better yet, sugar water) in one's palm, and
hold your hand steady, palm up, exactly where the alternative
watering station was located.

One can then show the frightened neighbors that foraging
bees are no threat at all, to the point that anyone can
have them "eating out of their hand", even a child.

Kids love the trick, and beg to "be next".  The risk of
one getting stung is nearly nil, as long as no one is
inclined to close their fist on a handful of bees.  :)

        jim