Free tap water with Refill London
Have you heard of Refill London? The scheme will help you locate places to refill your bottle with free tap water.
To help reduce the amount of single-use plastic bottles and make drinking water more accessible in public spaces, the Mayor has launched a scheme to help Londoners locate places to refill their bottles with free tap water.
The discussion ran from 15 March 2018 - 09 May 2018
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Community Member 6 years agoGreat idea.
DizM
Community Member 6 years agoBrilliant!
Bo Pilling
Community Member 6 years agoI think this is a great idea. I think it would be great if many of the Victorian and Edwardian drinking fountains all over London could be re-opened.
This would reduce the cost of building new ones.
ghewson
Community Member 6 years agoTime was when there were public drinking fountains all over, in parks for instance. It's still possible to spot a few, non-functioning, examples. Bring them back!
Anonymous - account deleted
Community Member 6 years agoVery good idea, fully support. On top of this we need to reinstate public drinking fountains and especiallu public conveniences.
Anonymous - account deleted
Community Member 6 years agoIt's a great idea - but in that many people drink bottled water out of choice when we have some of the safest water in the world - I'm not sure it'll help much
Anonymous - account deleted
Community Member 6 years agoGreat, more of these everywhere please. Why do you need to download an app and register to check locations? Wouldn't a web based map be easier and cheaper?
Talk London
Official Representative 6 years agoHi CarlosGB
Refill told us that they are currently in the process of removing the need to create an account to view Refill stations. You’ll still be able to log in if you want to earn rewards. More here: https://www.refill.org.uk/get-the-refill-app/
Talk London
Anonymous - account deleted
Community Member 6 years agoWonderful¡ needs to be rolled across the rest of London asap
Kattefjaes
Community Member 6 years agoIt's a good idea in principle. The sticking point, however, is London's questionable water quality.
Many people (my partner included) have great difficulty with the unpleasant aroma and taste of the tap water, which reeks of chlorine. When...
Show full commentIt's a good idea in principle. The sticking point, however, is London's questionable water quality.
Many people (my partner included) have great difficulty with the unpleasant aroma and taste of the tap water, which reeks of chlorine. When we're out, we usually end up buying mineral water to refill her re-usable bottle- which is obviously not ideal.
Show less of commenttexasslingers
Community Member 6 years agoFantastic idea, I support this 100%. Now let's make sure there are enough easily accessed loos to deal with the results!
tonydoona
Community Member 6 years agoWhat on earth are we wasting money on this fad scheme for. is anybody realistically expecting business owners to suddenly give away water, rather than sell similar products; maybe they can be persuaded to give away free cake and sandwiches...
Show full commentWhat on earth are we wasting money on this fad scheme for. is anybody realistically expecting business owners to suddenly give away water, rather than sell similar products; maybe they can be persuaded to give away free cake and sandwiches, in paper bags obviously.
Show less of commentThe truth is that this scheme will cost money, will benefit the very few people that can afford to pay a reasonable price towards the cost of the supply of services provided
Xenon
Community Member 6 years agoGreat initiative
Anonymous - account deleted
Community Member 6 years agoThis is a good idea which should be rolled out as soon as possible.
wayahead
Community Member 6 years agoTap water in open jugs in cafes, bars and businesses will allow the chlorine to evaporate, so there should be no problem about taste. The water should not be from a supply that has been softened.
Show full commentThe next important requirement is the repair...
Tap water in open jugs in cafes, bars and businesses will allow the chlorine to evaporate, so there should be no problem about taste. The water should not be from a supply that has been softened.
Show less of commentThe next important requirement is the repair of all the water fountains that exist already. Hopefully, Thames Water will fund that out of their large profits to avoid Councils having to dip into their budget.
The draft New London Plan in Policy D7 M calls for facilities for free water to be "in new or redeveloped public realm", so developers should plan for that and include it in their S.106 agreement with the borough.
The New London Plan should have called for additional free water points everywhere in existing developed locations.
ahope
Community Member 6 years agoGreat idea. Please extend to other areas of London
Vron
Community Member 6 years agoWe used to have drinking fountains all over London and in all the Parks. These were nearly all disabled as “the powers that be” said there was a change they would spread legionnaires disease. How is beyond me as I thought it was spread...
Show full commentWe used to have drinking fountains all over London and in all the Parks. These were nearly all disabled as “the powers that be” said there was a change they would spread legionnaires disease. How is beyond me as I thought it was spread from air conditioning units. Anyway councils etc erredmon the side of caution and they were all closed off which was really frustrating. Has scientific opinion changed? Or is this more pie in the sky to account for the increase of 5.1% in our contribution to London Council Tax? I personally use a bottle, plastic, with a filter which I refill with tap water. I expect it to last many more years so no need to purchase disposable plastic bottles.
Show less of commentTeresaGriffith
Community Member 6 years agoSo pleased about this. I wish something could be done about large sports events and their bottles. The Long Distance Walkers Association make participants carry their own cups on an annual 100 mile challenge..
Anonymous - account deleted
Community Member 6 years agoGreat idea. I recall drinking fountains when I was a boy. Much better than all these plastic bottles littering the streets
Anonymous - account deleted
Community Member 6 years agoI have heard about this and fully support it.
brunomichela
Community Member 6 years agoGreat initiatives if it goes hand in hand with other initiatives to get rid of plastic.