Free tap water with Refill London

This is a great idea.

Good idea. Are the participating cafes being supplemented for their water usage as their water bills could be astronomical if it's used regularly?

It would be better if some could be located outside of private shops, cafes, banks etc - maybe in parks or next to information street posts/ signs, etc? This would benefit the general public and the homeless. They'd need to be push button taps so that people don't use more water than necessary, but it would be really useful for all people. (and great if it had a purification nozzle because tap water in London tastes nasty).

There used to be lots of public fountains, where they have all gone? In principle a good idea. One problem that is of course not publicised about London's water supply, is the high level of oestrogen in tap water due to so many women being on the pill and the fact that our water is to a large extent recycled. If you ask Thames Water, they say they are not required to measure the level of hormones so they don't know what it is! As none of the purification methods used have any effect on this type of molecule, it tends to become more concentrated. Clean water doesn't just mean an acceptable bacterial level.

Excellent idea. Shades of the Horse Trough Society of years ago :)

Of course, a great idea. It is obscene in a country that is lucky enough to have clean running water on tap, that plastic bottled water is even on sale. We have moved backwards since the Victorians built water fountains in our streets and parks.

Whilst I am not a great water drinker myself (and am sometimes bemused by the current trend for drinking water all the time, wherever one is), I do recognise that many people DO want/need water - and at the same time, I am a passionate supporter of minimising our use of plastics. So I think this is a most excellent initiative.

Good to see this initiative being rolled out. How quickly will we be able to see the validation and a roll out to other locations/boroughs?

Is that "Free" as in "my water bill won't go up" or "my council/GLA tax won't go up" because I'm reasonably sure that Thames Water won't be giving treated water away(and their profits) for free. How much has this "scheme" cost to implement? Are these hosts going to get a refund for all the extra usage that will appear on their undoubtedly metered bills when it doesn't result in extra customers?