Londoners flock to new water fountains

Baked by a blazing summer and keen to reduce their use of plastic bottles, Londoners are welcoming a scheme to reintroduce drinking-water fountains across the British capital.

Four have already been installed and one of them, off 1960s fashion hotspot Carnaby Street, has been used more than 10,000 times a month this summer, the office of London mayor Sadiq Khan said on Tuesday.

Now 16 more are planned in 2018 in areas including Brixton, Paddington, Southwark and Kensington. Public drinking fountains were common in London in the Victorian era but have since made way for plastic bottles, with the average adult buying more than three a week, according to Khan’s office.

“Water fountains are a simple but effective way to encourage Londoners and visitors to ditch plastic bottles and instead refill reusable ones,” said Khan.

“Some of these are already attracting thousands of visitors a day and city hall is working on plans to secure many more.”

Khan’s office has worked with the Zoological Society of London’s #OneLess campaign to secure the locations of the fountains.

Heather Koldewey, the campaign’s director and head of marine and freshwater conservation at the Zoological Society of London, said there is big demand for the fountains.

“We were taken aback by the number of applications we received ... There is definitely huge appetite in London to stop using single-use plastic and establish a new culture of refilling.”