The locations of the first 20 new public water fountains in busy stations, shopping centres, museums, business districts and other venues across London, have been revealed.
The fountains are a part of work aimed to cut plastic waste in the city by reducing single-use plastic bottles and instead encouraging people to refill rather than buy bottled water.
Four of the fountains have already been installed – atHeart of Valentines Park, Redbridge, Kingly Court, off Carnaby Street, Westminster, and two at Liverpool Street Station – and are proving popular, the Mayor of London’s office said.
More than 8,000 litres of drinking water, the equivalent of 16,000 water bottles, has been dispensed from the Liverpool Street Station fountains in less than one month. The Kingly Court fountain, off Carnaby Street, one of London’s busiest shopping areas, has been used more than 10,000 times a month this summer.
Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) #OneLess campaign assessed the site applications on accessibility, visibility and footfall to ensure water refills are available for as many Londoners as possible. MIW Water Cooler Experts established a London Drinking Fountain Fund to provide up to £85,000 to finance the installation of fountains.
“Water fountains are a simple but effective way to encourage Londoners and visitors to ditch plastic bottles and instead refill reusable ones.”
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Water fountains are a simple but effective way to encourage Londoners and visitors to ditch plastic bottles and instead refill reusable ones.
“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 and City Hall are working on plans to secure many more across London.”
Dr Heather Koldewey,#OneLess campaign Director and Head of Marine and Freshwater Conservation at ZSL said:“We were taken aback by the number of applications we received to install drinking fountains across London. There is definitely huge appetite in London to stop using single-use plastic and establish a new culture of refilling.
“We are delighted to be working with the Mayor of London on this exciting initiative to reduce the plastic blight on the ocean and firmly establish London as a city that no longer uses plastic bottled water.”
The locations of the fountains were confirmed as statistics compiled by ZSL’s OneLess campaign estimatedthat the average Londoner buys more than three plastic water bottles a week – 175 bottles a year. In the whole of the UK, some 7.7 billion plastic bottles are bought every year.
Confirmed locations are:
- Liverpool Street Station, near the Underground entrance
- Liverpool Street Station, near Bishopsgate exit
- Heart of Valentines Park, Redbridge
- Bexleyheath Town Centre, Bexley
- North Acton Station Square in Ealing
- Windrush Square, Brixton
- Ladywell fields, Lewisham
- Beckenham Place Park, Lewisham
- Horniman Museum and Gardens, Lewisham
- Paddington Recreation Ground, Westminster
- Acton park, near the new skate park, Ealing,
- Guy’s Hospital, Southwark
- St Thomas’ Hospital, Lambeth
- Swiss Cottage Open Space, Camden
- Camberwell Green, Southwark
- Nisbett Walk, Sidcup Town Centre in Bexley
- The Natural History Museum, RB Kensington and Chelsea
- South St Alban’s Street, St James (off Haymarket)
- The London School of Economics and Political Science
Refill London has so far recruited over 2,000 London shops, businesses, venues and cafes including Costa, Tate Modern, BFI Imax and Leon to provide free tap water to members of the public and is a partnership between City to Sea, Mayor of London and Thames Water.