We need your input – Fill out our survey for a chance to win a grocery gift card of your choice and help to inform the future of public water bottle refill stations in Canada!
Public water bottle refill stations are increasingly recognized as essential infrastructure, providing free and reliable access to clean drinking water while helping to reduce single-use plastic waste. With support from Environment and Climate Change Canada, Pollution Probe is strengthening understanding of the landscape of this important infrastructure, including how to improve availability and accessibility in public places and the factors that affect Canadians’ ability and willingness to use them.
Pollution Probe has engaged more than one hundred municipalities, recreational facilities, educational institutions, community groups, and consumers from across Canada to better understand how public water bottle refill stations are deployed and utilized in local communities. We have also explored existing policy frameworks, structured research, and case studies to better understand the impact of this infrastructure in different types of municipalities, decision-making processes for their installation, and potential co-benefits associated with their use. We will be developing a series of resources, best practices, and next steps to facilitate knowledge sharing between municipalities around funding streams, communications strategies, and implementational approaches, as well as identifying key needs and barriers to use by community members.
Stay tuned for an upcoming interactive webinar exploring how Canadian municipalities have approached planning and implementation, as well as how communities can help to shape local water bottle refill infrastructure, reduce single use plastic waste, and learn.