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This dual-system is one of the things that drives me crazy when in the UK. Oftentimes you get a sink with two separate taps, one hot one cold. So if you want to rinse your hands with warm water, you turn them both on and quickly move your hands between the two. If you're too slow, you get scalded!

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Fun fact: mixer taps in the UK don't mix! There are two separate tubes, usually one inside the other, for carrying hot and cold water. So, what comes out of the tap is cold on the outside and hot on the inside, resulting in scalding your hands and freezing them at the same time!

...because you can't connect the hot water and cold water systems together (because of aforesaid risk of sucking contaminated water out of the hot system into the cold system).

Agreed - These are even worse than the dual-taps. It looks like you can get warm water out, but as you said, when you put your hands under the tap you're getting independent streams of very hot and very cold water. Strange (and painful) sensation!

Is it really that hard to add an anti siphon valve? All it is is a small one-way flap.

Or a backflow preventer - they are the law in many states. Put one on the hot and cold side.

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