Aberdeen Scores A High-Tech Drinking Tap And Community Partnership To Boot

A state-of-the-art drinking water tap has been launched in Aberdeen’s city centre to encourage people to stay hydrated, ditch single use plastic and top up a reusable water bottle directly from the tap.

The high-tech Top Up Tap, located on St Nicolas Street, offers passers by the perfect pit stop to stay hydrated and refill with Scotland’s world-class, fresh and delicious water, even while on the move.

The tap’s official opening also marked the launch of a year-long partnership between Scottish Water and Aberdeen Football Club Community Trust. Working together, the two organisations aim to further promote the importance and health benefits of staying hydrated while encouraging customers and fans to ditch single use plastic bottles altogether and opt to carry a reusable bottle.

Aberdeen Lord Provost, Councillor Barney Crockett officially launched the Top Up Tap in the heart of the city, joined by Angus the Bull, Donny the Sheep and volunteers from Aberdeen Football Club Community Trust who handed out refillable water bottles to passing shoppers.

LORD PROVOST, COUNCILLOR BARNEY CROCKETT SAID:

I am delighted to launch Aberdeen’s Top Up Tap alongside Scottish Water and Aberdeen Football Club Community Trust. This is an exciting addition to our city centre and a great way to remind people of the importance of staying hydrated with our country’s lovely, fresh tap water.

Aberdeen Football Club Community Trust Community Operations Manager, Steven Sweeney, commented:

We are proud to be entering into a genuine two-way partnership with Scottish Water, in particular in demonstrating our support for the #YourWaterYourLife campaign at today’s #TopUpTap launch. As Aberdeen FC’s Partner Charity, we engage with 20,000+ participants per year, with many of our activities promoting positive wellbeing and participating in physical activity. Professional footballers need to remain hydrated to maximise performance, and indeed we all should drink water regularly to keep our energy levels and brain function high. Having the top up tap in the City Centre should make staying hydrated easier for many of us, we are delighted to show our support for this fantastic initiative.

Scottish Water, Corporate Affairs Manager for the North, Gavin Steel, added:

We are delighted to launch both the North East’s first top up tap and Scottish Water’s newly formed partnership with AFCCT. Together, we hope that in the coming year we can further promote the important messages this tap represents and encourage customers across the North East not only to top up from the tap for the good of their health and pockets, but also to reduce reliance on single use plastics.

The refill point – giving access to free, fresh and clean drinking water at the push of a button – is connected to the mains water supply and will be inspected regularly. It digitally tracks the water usage and records both cost and plastic savings.

Launched in June 2018 as part of the utility’s national Your Water Your Life campaign, the Aberdeen tap is the 8th to be installed so far. The campaign will see over 30 of these modern-day water fountains installed in towns and cities across Scotland over the next two years.