Drinking fountains plan for Bideford and Westward Ho!

Water drinking fountains may be installed at key sites in Torridge to help reduce single-use plastic bottles if costs don’t put a dampener on the move.

Councillors leading the charge on climate charge have been given permission by Torridge District Council (TDC) to look into putting water fountains in Bideford’s Victoria Park and on the seafront at Westward Ho! to add the two already in Appledore and Westward Ho!

Councillor Peter Hames, lead member for climate change, said while there is no evidence that water fountains had the desired effect, sales of reusable bottles had increased in places such as London where Thames Water had been working with the mayor of London to offer 100 new water fountains across the capital.

Only seven per cent of plastic bottles are recycled each year in the UK and the average person uses 120 single use plastic bottles a year, said Cllr Hames.

Thames Water says 16 million plastic water bottles end up in landfills, rivers and oceans every day in the UK.

TDC currently supports the cost of the water at the water fountain at the loos in Churchfields car park, Appledore, which is run by Northam Town Council and at Westbourne Terrace, Westward Ho!

Whilst the perception by councillors is that they are well used, council officers say there is a stigma about using drinking water at a WC and they don’t feel they are used that much.

There are also reports that the Northam one has suffered vandalism, costing the town council £280.

Cllr Hames said plastic bottles contribute significantly to carbon emissions, with roughly 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide created from making and filling them every year.

The World Wide Fund for Nature says the bottles take 450 years to decompose.

“We have circumstantial evidence that drinking fountains in places like London and Hull are having the desired effect of reducing the consumption of single use plastic bottles, but there is no hard evidence at the moment,” Cllr Hames added.

“As a council we are struggling from a lack of funds to do this so we will cost it out and see. Water companies like Wessex Water promote water fountains and have funded them at numerous sites across their supply area but South West Water currently don’t and promote the use of the Refill app instead.”

The website www.refill.org.uk shows where bottles can be filled free of charge, with 10 locations in Bideford and 20 in Westward Ho! The café in Victoria Park, Bideford also refills bottles free of charge.

The council’s climate change working group will investigate funding sources, including approaching South West Water.