  We report the first detection of submillimeter water maser emission toward
water-fountain nebulae, which are post-AGB stars that exhibit high-velocity
water masers. Using APEX we found emission in the ortho-H2O (10_29-9_36)
transition at 321.226 GHz toward three sources: IRAS 15445-5449, IRAS
18043-2116 and IRAS 18286-0959. Similarly to the 22 GHz masers, the
submillimeter water masers are expanding with a velocity larger than that of
the OH masers, suggesting that these masers also originate in fast bipolar
outflows. In IRAS 18043-2116 and IRAS 18286-0959, which figure among the
sources with the fastest water masers, the velocity range of the 321 GHz masers
coincides with that of the 22 GHz masers, indicating that they likely coexist.
Towards IRAS 15445-5449 the submillimeter masers appear in a different velocity
range, indicating that they are tracing different regions. The intensity of the
submillimeter masers is comparable to that of the 22 GHz masers, implying that
the kinetic temperature of the region where the masers originate should be Tk >
1000 K. We propose that the passage of two shocks through the same gas can
create the conditions necessary to explain the presence of strong high-velocity
321 GHz masers coexisting with the 22 GHz masers in the same region.
