new £5million scheme will help to create a network of hundreds of free public water fountains across busy areas of London, helping to reduce single-use plastic waste and encouraging people to refill rather than buy bottled water.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has partnered with Thames Water on the new fund which is open for councils, businesses, venues and outlets that are land owners. To register interest visit www.london.gov.uk/water-fountains
The average adult in London buys more than three plastic water bottles every week – some 175 bottles every year. In total, around 7.7 billion plastic bottles are bought across the UK each year, resulting in substantial amounts of single-use plastic waste (stats from ZSL #OneLess campaign.)
The new fountains will be installed from spring 2019 and will be located in shopping centres, museums, business districts, outside busy stations, large green spaces and other publicly accessible areas with high footfall.
The new network of fountains is in addition to the first 20 the Mayor is already delivering this year across London. These are proving very popular with the public, with more than 8,000 litres of drinking water, the equivalent of 16,000 water bottles, dispensed from the two Liverpool Street Station fountains alone in less than one month.
