The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has partnered with Thames Water to install a network of more than 100 drinking water fountains in busy and accessible areas of London.
This is part of a range of measures taken by the Mayor to reduce the number of single-use plastic water bottles used in the capital and provide free access to healthy tap water.
The average London adult buys more than three plastic water bottles every week – a startling 175 bottles every year per person. In total, some 7.7billion plastic bottles are bought across the UK each year, resulting in substantial amounts of single-use plastic waste.
The Mayor is keen for Londoners to adopt small changes that can have a big environmental impact – like refilling reusable bottles with tap water, instead of needlessly buying new single-use ones.
To support this, improvements have been made to drinking water in public places through the Refill London scheme which encourages London’s many restaurants, cafes and businesses to offer free refills and drinking water fountains – making it easier for Londoners and visitors to the capital to refill on the go.
London boroughs and public and private land owners are invited to apply to host drinking water fountains. The Mayor and Thames Water will cover the cost of the fountains and their installation. They will be owned by Thames Water which will maintain and clean the fountains for 25 years (minimum).
