COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, July 08, 2019

QUESTION NO.41

QUESTION: Councillor Eoin O'Broin

In its 25 years of existence how many street drinking water fountains have SDCC installed?

REPLY:

Drinking water facilities have been provided in the past by South Dublin County Council, not at on-street locations but specifically at parks and recreational and other facilities.  Unfortunately it is not possible to provide information on how many such facilities have been provided in the past or where they have been provided.  While some are still in place some have been removed in the past for one reason or another including vandalism.  It is only in recent times that the provision of drinking water facilites has come into sharp focus in relation to single use plastics and the overall issue of climate action.

The provision of public water fountains is identified as a specific resource management action in the Council's Climate Change Action Plan.  In this regard the Council's Public Realm Section has recently completed a procurement process for the supply and installation of public water fountains at various locations around the County.  A total of 8 locations for such units have been selected, 4 of these are parks locations and 4 are on-street locations.  Installation of the units will be carried out over the summer months.  It is expected  that there will be a further roll-out of such units in other locations in the near future.  The units to be provided will capture information on the level of usage and will enable the reduction in single use plastics brought about by these units to be quantified.