Bristol Water fountain proves tap is better than bottled

Thousands of people have quenched their thirst at the new Bristol Water fountain in Millennium Square – potentially saving a mountain of plastic waste from landfill in just six weeks.

Since it was installed on June 13 2015, the ‘Tap into Bristol’ drinking fountain has provided 6,917 litres of water, that’s the equivalent of 13,834 half-litre plastic bottles of water.

Most people using the fountain tend to drink less than half a litre, either drinking from the tap or refilling bottles, so that’s a minimum of 14,000 people enjoying quality water on tap – and not having to buy bottled and then get rid of that waste. 

As well as offering a free and healthy alternative to bottled, sweetened drinks, the tap also supports the big initiative of Bristol 2015 to reduce plastic waste and litter

That many plastic bottles would have had a carbon footprint of 1,145 kg of CO2, compared with the carbon footprint for the same amount of mains water supplied from the drinking fountain of just under 3kg of CO2 .

Patric Bulmer, Environment Manager at Bristol Water, said:

“People have taken to the fountain quite literally like ducks to water.

“As well as offering a free and healthy alternative to bottled, sweetened drinks, the tap also supports the big initiative of Bristol 2015 to reduce plastic waste and litter. 

“Tap in Bristol is right next to the stunning Blue Whales and offers a real solution to the plastic problem.

“The two projects have worked really well in terms of proximity and messages”.

The Tap into Bristol fountain is hard to miss as it has a towering piece of artwork by Digital Fire literally pouring over it into a painted puddle on the ground.

A glass porthole exposes the underground infrastructure of a hi tech water supply, including a special turbine that generates electricity from the flow of water and a smart iMeter that transmits data from the tap for monitoring by our research partners at UWE.

Let us know what you think of the fountain by tweeting @bristolwater & @Bristol_2015 with the hashtag #tapintobristol.