Find yourself getting thirsty on that long commute to and from work? Dehydrated on an over-crowded train? NS is going to offer FREE drinking water at train stations across the Netherlands.
The NS (the Dutch railway operator) are trying to limit the use of plastic water bottles by installing water fountains at train stations.
There are more than 400 train stations in the Netherlands. To begin with, 200 of these will be installed with drinking fountains. NS hope they will eventually gain help from the municipalities and local water companies in order to install them at every station. This is expected to cost around 3 million euros over the next 10 years!
This might be especially pleasing for those who want to save money (okay, so it’s only water, but even buying a bottle each week adds up!) and time (if you’re already late for work and don’t want to waste time standing in a shopping queue).
NS: gratis water voor iedereen op alle stations https://t.co/mE0kAaIejy pic.twitter.com/vDskEcBsZJ
— NS online (@NS_online) October 5, 2018
Sustainability
Carola Wijdoogen, Director of Sustainability at NS, hopes this will reduce the amount of plastic waste. “If we sell less bottles of water at the station because of this,” she says, “so be it. Drinking tap water is healthy and environmentally friendly.”
This October, the first water fountain will be intalled at Alkmaar railway station. NS say that 90% of travellers will be able to drink from a fountain at some point on their journey by the end of 2019!
What do you think about this idea? Love the idea of free drinking water and saving the environment? Think it’s a big waste of money? Let us know in the comments.
