London's water dispensers make splash

Capital rolls out public fountains to tackle plastic bottle problem

New public drinking water fountains installed across the British capital are proving highly popular, with figures suggesting thousands of liters of water have been dispensed from the first four installed earlier this year.

More than 8,000 liters of water have been dispensed in under a month from two drinking fountains installed at Liverpool Street Station - equal to 16,000 standard bottles of water - while another fountain, installed off Carnaby Street in March, has been used more than 10,000 times a month since tracking began in early June.

As part of a plan by the mayor of London to tackle the issue of single-use plastic, another 16 fountains will soon be strategically placed, at busy stations, shopping centers, museums, business districts and other venues across the city.

Sadiq Khan, the capital's mayor, worked with the Zoological Society of London (known as ZSL) on its #One-Less campaign, to secure and identify suitable locations.

ZSL assessed the site applications on accessibility, visibility and footfall to ensure water refills are available for as many Londoners as possible.

To finance the installation of fountains, the mayor partnered with MIW Water Cooler Experts on a London Drinking Fountain Fund that provides up to 85,000 pounds ($110,000).

Members of the British public are being encouraged to refill rather than buy bottled water as part of an effort to cut plastic waste.

An investigation by the Guardian newspaper last year revealed that a million plastic bottles are sold worldwide every minute, with large numbers contributing to ocean pollution, or ending up in landfill.

"Water fountains are a simple but effective way to encourage Londoners and visitors to ditch plastic bottles and instead refill reusable ones," said Khan.

"With the hot weather we've seen this summer, the demand is greater than ever for quick and easy ways of accessing free drinking water and I'm pleased to confirm the locations for the first 20 of our new public water fountains. Some of these are already attracting thousands of visitors a day," added Khan.

Huge appetite

London is not the first British city to see drinking fountains spring up; cities including Bristol and Hull have installed fountains in recent years, while London's Borough Market installed its own drinking fountains in 2017.

Heather Koldewey, co-director of the #OneLess campaign against single-use plastic said the 20 locations were chosen based on areas which had high footfall where it was judged people would most need water, such as transport hubs and recreational areas, were open to all, and where fountains would be well maintained and could be installed easily.

"There is definitely huge appetite in London to stop using single-use plastic and establish a new culture of refilling," said Koldeway.

The #OneLess campaign has found the average Londoner buys more than three plastic water bottles a week, but Koldewey said the public were keen to embrace an alternative.

"It has really validated our research that said if you provide the water fountains, (people) will come and they will use them," she said.