Plan to quench villagers’ thirst as Scottish Water lodges plan with Highland Council to site latest bottle refill station in Fort Augustus
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A WATER campaign aimed at encouraging people to reuse bottles and drink more healthily is set to roll into Fort Augustus.
Scottish Water has lodged plans to install one of its Top Up Taps in the heart of the village beside Loch Ness.
The utilities firm has been installing the water refill stations at popular street sites across Scotland ever since it launched its Your Water Your Life campaign back in June 2018.
Fort William and Inverness were among the early Highland recipients, while plans for one in Nairn were approved by Highland Council in January this year.
If this latest application is successful, one will also be erected in Fort Augustus outside the Scottish Canals centre.
Since the campaign began, dozens of the Top Up Taps have been installed across Scotland, with users consuming 100,000 litres of water and cutting the use of more than 250,000 plastic bottles. Scottish Water hopes to increase the number of stations to 70 in 2021.
Explaining its campaign on the Top Up Tap web page, Scottish Water said: “We’re encouraging everyone to make full use of the Top Up Taps all year round by topping up their reusable bottles when they’re out and about. It can benefit health and wellbeing, saves money and helps reduce waste and the impact on the wider environment.”
Under the application, the water station’s pillar will stand 1.6m tall and 25cm wide. It will be painted blue and also feature the campaign and Scottish Water logos.
Last year people in Inverness were praised for playing their part in helping to save the equivalent of 250,000 plastic bottles by topping up their refillable bottles from Scottish Water’s Top Up Tap in the High Street.
It has been operational since March 2019 and has dispensed more than 5900 litres.
Related news: Nairn has a thirst to aid environment
