Council & Sydney Water partner to provide water refill stations

Eight permanent drinking water stations have been installed at recreational spaces across the Blue Mountains City Council Local Government Area.

Council and Sydney Water have worked together to provide the stations at some of the area’s most frequented recreation spaces.

Mayor, Cr Mark Greenhill, said, “Making fresh drinking water available at recreation locations is one way we can support the health and wellbeing of residents and reduce waste generated by disposable bottles.

“The water stations are conveniently located and will allow residents to readily refill reusable water bottles or to drink from a bubbler. Access to drinking water in public places is one way that we are making our City more liveable.” 

The water refill stations are located at key locations across the City: Summerhayes Park, Winmalee; Lapstone Oval, Lapstone; Knapsack Park, Glenbrook; Glenbrook Park, Glenbrook; Pitt Park, Wentworth Falls; Maple Grove Park, Katoomba; Wentworth Falls Lake, Wentworth Falls; and Wilson Park, Wentworth Falls.

Each water refill unit is multi-functional, serving as a bubbler, bottle refill station and dog bowl at the base; are a simple, robust construction; and wheelchair accessible.

Donna Lewis, Senior Marketing Advisor at Sydney Water said “we are delighted to be partnering with Blue Mountains City Council to provide their residents and our customers with high quality drinking water in convenient locations.

“We have some of the best drinking water in the world and it’s already filtered by Sydney Water.

“The availability of the water stations will help the family budgets of local residents by providing free water, rather than them purchasing bottled water.

“Using the water stations in preference to purchasing bottled water will also assist the environment. Sydney Water removes over one million plastic bottles from our waterways each year across our area of operation,” Ms Lewis said.

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Photo: Mayor, Cr Mark Greenhill and Sydney Water rep, Amy Bromhead, try one of the water refill stations in Maple Grove Park, Katoomba. The partnership is making tap water more accessible in popular public places. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Plastic Bottled Water

It can take 250ml of oil and three litres of water to produce one litre of bottled water A plastic water bottle takes about 1,000 years to break down Only 35 percent of plastic bottles get recycled with the majority ending up in landfill When littered, plastic bottles often end up in the sea, killing marine life that mistakes it for food For every ton of plastic produced, three tons of carbon dioxide is released

Health & Wellbeing

In 2014, Australians drank on average nearly one (0.88) sugar sweetened beverage a day Drinking one 600ml regular soft drink every day will see you consume 23kg of sugar in a year One 375ml can of soft drink per day could lead to a 6.5kg yearly weight gain There are 10  teaspoons of sugar in one 375ml can of  regular soft drink In 2012, Australians bought 1.28 billion litres of sugar sweetened beverages In 2015, 52% of adults and 22% of children in NSW were overweight or obese

Cost

5 litres of Sydney tap water costs just over 1 cent Bottled water ranges from 1,500-2,000 times more expensive than tap