The reusable water bottle 'refill revolution' is trickling through London with a host of new water fountains to be installed in the next few weeks. So where can you fill up? We've got all the details.
Alice Pritchard
Thu 30 Aug 2018
After the huge success of three water fountains in Soho and Liverpool Street, the Mayor of London and the #OneLess campaign are rolling out the refill your bottle water stations across London.
There will be 16 new fountains in London before the end of the year with a further 17 potential sites already being investigated.
Scroll down for the full list of new fountains.
Since being installed at the beginning of August, the two Liverpool St fountains have dispensed 8,000 litres of drinking water, the equivalent of 16,000 water bottles.
A new fountain has been installed in Heart of Valentines Park, Redbridge last week and the remaining 16 are being accelerated to put a dent in London's consumption of one billion plastic bottles a year.
While 78% of us nationally want easy access to free water, the average Londoner gets through 175 single-use plastic water bottles every single year.
The average Londoner gets through 175 single-use plastic water bottles every single year
“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,” said Dr Heather Koldewey, Director of the #OneLess campaign and Head of Marine and Freshwater at ZSL (Zoological Society of London).
“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 London Drinking Fountain Fund has been established by #OneLess, the Mayor of London and MIW Water Cooler Experts, with the aim to reduce the amount of single-use plastic bottles used in London as part of the fight against ocean plastic pollution. (For more information visit www.onelessbottle.org).
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Water fountains are a simple but effective way to encourage people to ditch daily ‘pointless’ plastic bottles and instead refill reusable bottles. 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 of our 20 new public water fountains. Some of these are already attracting thousands of visitors a day and we are working on plans to secure many more across London.”
Look out for water fountains at these London sites
- Kingly Court, Soho (already installed)
- Liverpool Street (already installed)
- Heart of Valentines Park, Redbridge (already installed)
- Camberwell Green
- Swiss Cottage Open Space
- North Acton Station Square
- Windrush Square, Brixton
- Ladywell fields
- Beckhenham Place Park
- Horniman Museum and Gardens
- Paddington Recreation Ground
- Acton Park, near the new skate park
- Guy's Hospital
- St Thomas' Hospital
- Bexleyheath Town Centre
- Nisbett Walk, Sidcup Town Centre
- The Natural History Museum, South Kensington
- South St Alban's Street, St James
- The London School of Economics and Political Science
Need a new plastic free water bottle? Our favourites are here or go the whole hog and put a zero waste kit together. Here's how.
