LONDON, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- London mayor Sadiq Khan announced Tuesday the locations of the first 20 water fountains to come to the British capital in his campaign to reduce plastic bottle use.
With Londoners buying an average three bottles of water a week, Khan hopes the free water fountains will dramatically cut the use of plastic bottles in circulation.
Khan said the first 20 new public water fountains will be located near busy railway stations, shopping centers, museums, as well as in business districts across London.
Four of the fountains have already been installed at Valentines Park in Redbridge, Carnaby Street in Westminster, and two at Liverpool Street Station. City Hall says they are proving popular.
More than 8,000 liters of drinking water -- the equivalent of 16,000 water bottles -- has been dispensed from the Liverpool Street Station fountains in less than a month.
The fountains are part of the Mayor's work to cut plastic waste by reducing single-use plastic bottles.
Khan has worked with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the OneLess campaign on the project.
Khan said: "Water fountains are a simple but effective way to encourage Londoners and visitors to ditch plastic bottles and instead refill reusable ones. 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," adding that some fountains were attracting thousands of visitors per day.
Heather Koldewey, the OneLess campaign director and head of marine and freshwater conservation at ZSL, said: "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."
Statistics compiled by OneLess campaign estimated that the average Londoner buys more than three plastic water bottles a week -- 175 bottles a year. In the whole Britain, some 7.7 billion plastic bottles are bought every year.
The drinking water fountains will also provide a free alternative to drinking high-sugar carbonated drinks, and support the Mayor's package of measures to cut child obesity.
