Water bowl fear surfaces again

I think it was about a year ago that I noticed Paddy was afraid of our water bowl, a big stainless steel one. I switched from dangly tags to Boomerangs and haven't noticed it in ages, but in the last couple of days I have seen him cautiously go to take a drink and then back away in fear. I can only think it must be the reflection in the water, but what can be done about that? Even if I put water down in a ceramic bowl it still reflects the light. In combination with this, he has started bolting down snow which was another behavior that surfaced last year. We just had fresh snow (didn't we all?) and I feel badly as it seems to me that he must be chronically thirsty. I will start adding some water to his meals, but I would still like for him to have comfortable drink when he wants one.