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Boris wants fountains to replace bottles
Pippa Crerar, City Hall Editor10.06.08
Water fountains could be put up in parks and public spaces across London under plans being developed by Boris Johnson.
The Mayor believes that providing free water for Londoners would help deter them from buying plastic bottles. He has instructed special adviser Sir Simon Milton to look into where the drinking fountains could go and how much they would cost.
Mr Johnson said: "If this place is generally getting hotter and people are going off buying bottled water I think we should have a new era of public fountains."
The move would be a major victory for the Evening Standard's Water on Tap campaign. Hundreds of restaurants, cafés and clubs are already willingly providing customers with free tap water. The campaign aims to end the practice of offering expensive and environmentally damaging bottled water without mentioning it is available on tap.
A spokeswoman for Mr Johnson said: "The Mayor is keen to see more drinking water fountains on the streets of London to help reduce the use of bottled water, the use of which causes unsightly litter and unnecessary waste."
Reader views (15)
I think it's a great idea!!, everytime I go out with my 2 children and husband I carry 2 litres of water, which is usually used up on a hot day. Maybe cameras could be trained on the rough elements of society who disrepect them? - just an idea anyway.
- Tanya Grove, Patcham, Brighton
Sorry to say it, but public water fountains will soon become urinals. I would never drink from them through fear of infection. Boris should concentrate on improve recycling and making recycling a lot easier rather than continue the policies which got Ken the boot!
- Adriano Ruiz, London
Any chance on some progress on the campaign pledges (especially those that he promised would be his "day-one" priority)?
- Fresh, london
Excellent idea! Shouldn't be too costly to implement either. And I think that vandal-resistant stainless steel or even cast-iron) designs can be found.
I know I miss such fountains in e.g. Paris and other European cities, and I'm fairly certain that they will make London's parks more attractive.
Only one small critical remark ... why does the mayor have to be personally involved in an idea like this?
- Golodh, London, UK
A nice idea but we all know they be smashed up or have dog excrement smeared all over them. I also personally never use water fountains because of fear of infection. In these days of anti-biotic resistant tuberculosis and other super bugs, I don't want to drink from a public tap.
- Mikko Takala, Drumnadrochit, Scotland
Didn't people start paying for bottles of water vs. tap water for the convenience? So what has changed?
- Rogan, DFW Texas
As people have pointed out, some of the people of our wonderful city are basically human garbage and will initially destroy whatever fountains are put in place.
It's the first step, though, towards the rest of us taking pride in having civic facilities and establishing a culture in which mindless vandalism is the exception not the norm.
But - it would be nice if the police weren't shutting up all their shops. A bit of support would be helpful in reclaiming the streets.
- Tim, London
Thank GOD for Boris. Yes we have people who will want to vandalise the fountains and wee on them and all sorts but lets just do it and stop drinking bottled water, this is one of the best things I have heard from a London Major.
Next thing Boris, is to get idiots to turn their engines off while the vehicle is stationary. Why pollute and waste petrol...
- Nancy, London
I thought public drinking fountains were a good idea until I saw a couple of kids urinating on one of them.
- Brian, Wiltshire
Nice idea - but after a week when they have been vandalised, spat on (or worse) who will want to use one? Just look at the screen of our cash machines. Unfortunately there is a 'culture' that thinks this is funny.
- Kep It Clean, London UK
Water fountains, this is a brilliant idea, we used to have them, until they were removed in most cases, others smashed, this was largely due to not being looked after properly. I was grateful of these fountains in my life, as a child I wasn't given endless money to buy food and drink, so a cool drop of water from the fountains on a hot day was heaven. Boris,well done!
- Sandy Villalarde, new brighton merseyside
Excellent idea.
The water authorities have and are proving themselves to be useless. They've seen how people are using bottled water. They shout on how pure their water is. But it hasn't reached their brains, that water could be bottled and made portable.
Yes Boris, make it free! Give the water authorities the EFFLUENCE.
- A.Winsley, London. England
When I was a kid, (a long time ago) I remember that there were drinking fountains all over London not just in parks. Many of them had a little iron cup on a chain that people could use. Most of them were very ornamental and works of art in their own right. There was also lots of granite horse troughs for tired and weary horses. That should indicate how long ago it was. So in many ways we were ahead of the future that Boris wants.
- Jon Vickers, SC USA
Nice one, Boris..
- Johno, London
Hurragh for Boris!
- Emma Champion, london, england
