The Mayor of London reveals locations of 50 new water fountains to help cut plastic waste
• Locations of first 50 new water fountains revealed including shopping and business districts, green spaces, busy high streets & stations
• The new fountains will be added to the existing 28 already installed through the Mayor’s initiatives
• Part of the Mayor’s work to help Londoners easily reduce single-use plastic bottles in the capital and refill with free water
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has revealed the locations of 50 new public water fountains being installed across busy areas of London to help people ditch single-use plastic bottles and reduce plastic waste. It couldn’t have come at a better time when the weather is going to be hot, hot, hot in the city!
Sadiq Khan has partnered with Thames Water on the new water fountain network, which will include 20 rail and Underground stations, as well as high streets, parks, shopping areas, business districts, large green spaces and other publicly accessible areas with high footfall. Two will launch in Ealing, by the Hanwell Clock Tower, and in Melbourne Avenue, with a further 50 delivered over the coming months. Locations include Blackfriars station, Potters Field Park in Southwark and Russell Square in Camden.
”With plastics polluting our oceans and causing untold harm to life in our rivers and waterways, it’s vital that we all make changes to reduce plastic waste. Delivering more water fountains in London and ensuring that our shops and cafes offer free tap water is an important part of my work to help Londoners easily make small changes that will have a big environmental impact. Our network of water fountains will help people refill on the go and become much-loved additions to our public spaces, stations and busy areas of the capital.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan
Join in Plastic Free July
The average Londoner currently buys more than three plastic water bottles every week* – a massive 175 bottles every year per person. This initiative hopes to encourage Londoners to use refillable water bottles instead of single-use plastic bottles.
The fountains are easily identifiable by a water droplet design and each one is fitted with a device to measure the amount of water dispensed to demonstrate the equivalent number of single-use plastic bottles saved.
“These new fountains will be added to the growing number of 2,500 other Refill stations in London where it’s possible to refill for free and are vital in our mission to prevent plastic pollution at source. The campaign is clocking up hundreds of thousands of refills already, proving that people will change their behaviour – by not buying plastic bottled water – when free drinking water is readily available.”
Natalie Fee, Founder of City to Sea
ZSL’s #Oneless Campaign
A network of 28 fountains has already been installed through the Mayor’s initiative with ZSL’s #Oneless Campaign. Two of the fountains in Liverpool Street Station dispensed 8,000 litres of drinking water – the equivalent of 16,000 water bottles – in less than one month.
“More drinking fountains around London is definitely good news for the war on plastics. 50 of them is a great start, and, let’s hope, the first step towards city-wide free water refills.”
Celebrity Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Londoners can also access free drinking water from more than 2,500 cafes, shops and businesses offering free tap water through the Refill London scheme, with participating outlets putting easily identifiable Refill stickers in their windows.
Every stage of plastic production releases harmful carbon emissions. A recent *report highlighted that plastic production and incineration adds over 850m metric tonnes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere a year. The equivalent to the annual emissions from 189 coal-fired power plants. In addition to contributing to climate change, plastic bottles have a negative effect on the natural environment, particularly marine life, and currently make up 10% of all litter found in the River Thames.
The Mayor has reached out to other water companies including Affinity Water, Essex and Suffolk, and SES Water, calling for them to make similar commitments to the water fountain programme in areas of London not served by Thames Water.
“We are excited to be installing four new drinking water fountains in Southwark. It is vital that we all reduce the amount of single-use plastic that we use and carrying a water bottle and/or a coffee cup is a small change that everyone can start with. I hope that these new fountains will encourage more people to ditch single-use plastics, and inspire more businesses to offer free drinking water refills a well.”
Richard Livingstone, Southwark Council Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and the Climate Emergency
Thames Water and the Mayor of London are both contributing £2.5m to the £5m fund and aim to install more than 100 water fountains across London, adding to the locations for existing fountains
Save £2,400 by not buying single-use plastics
At Broke Girl in the City, we are always looking at ways to budget so that we can live a fabulous lifestyle in the city with next to no money. So when this research came through from BRITA UK saying that we could say ourselves a staggering £2,400 a year just by using a reusable cup, we decided to take note!
Locations of 50 new fountains:
Bexley
Abbey Wood Station
Belvedere Recreation Ground, Welling
High Street, Welling
Brent
Willesden Green Station
Camden
Kentish Town Station
Russell Square
Camden High Street
Croydon
East Croydon Station
Norwood Junction
North End
Ealing
Melbourne Avenue, West Ealing
Hanwell Clock Tower
Walpole Park
Greenwich
General Gordon Square
New Eltham Station
Plumstead Station
Passey Place, Eltham High Street
Charlton Station
Hackney
Broadway Market
Worship Square
Mare Street
Ridley Road Market
Kingston
Victoria Road
Elm Road
Old London Road
Tolworth Broadway
New Malden High Street
Lewisham
Manor House Gardens
Mayow Park
Hilly Fields
Mountsfield Park
Merton
Raynes Park Station
Morden Tube Station
Colliers Wood Tube station
Mitcham Town Centre
Southwark
Potter’s Field Park
Brimmington Park
Dulwich Village
Nunhead Green
Wandsworth
Garratt Park, Earlsfield
Tooting Broadway Station
Balham Station
Southfields Station
Additional stations
Edmonton Green
Hoxton
Chingford
Enfield Town
Brockley
Blackfriars
Shadwell
Crystal Palace
*Plastic water bottles figures from stats from ZSL #OneLess campaign.