Commuters travelling on London's swelteringly hot tube trains and buses during the summer months will be used to reminders to take a bottle of water on their journey.

 

But now Transport for London (TfL) is encouraging people to save plastic, water, and money by trailing a free water chiller with Thames Water.

 

The water refilling station has been installed at Hammersmith Bus Station, allowing commuters to fill up their own bottles with free chilled, filtered mains water as they pass through the station.

 

The machine, designed by Hydrachill, also sells TfL-branded reusable and recyclable bottles for customers for £2 a piece.

 

The initiative will help to cut bottled water use, which has soared over the past 30 years. According to Hydrachill, two billion litres of water are now sold each year, up from less than 50 million in 1980.

 

But the majority of water bottles end up in landfill, pushing up council costs and hampering efforts to curb waste.

 

As much of UK bottled water is imported, the scheme is also hoped to reduce carbon emissions. Thames Water says its mains tap water creates about 0.3 grams of CO2 per litre, which is about 600 times less than the equivalent volume of bottled water. However, the footprint of chilled and filtered water is likely to be slightly higher than pure tap water.

 

If the trial proves successful, the machines could be rolled out to other major transport hubs across the capital.