Passengers using South Woodham Ferrers railway station can now refill their water bottles free of charge following the installation of a new water fountain.

The fountain was funded by the Essex & South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership and the Mister Gees Foundation, which is a charity that provides funding for projects to benefit the South Woodham Ferrers community.

The Mister Gees Foundation has also created some re-fillable bottles which are being given out to local residents.

During 2019, Greater Anglia became one of the first rail operators in England to give free water to passengers following the installation of water fountains at railway stations across its network. The initiative came as part of a drive to cut down on the number of single-use plastic bottles.

The environmentally friendly project has seen in excess of 300,000 bottles refilled across the Greater Anglia network.

Jayne Sumner, Rail Engagement Manager for the Community Rail Partnership, said:

“The station adopters felt that a water dispenser would make a great asset to the station to help keep people hydrated on their journeys and help to reduce plastic waste, so we were really pleased to partner with the Mister Gees Foundation to help them achieve their wish.”

Alan Neville, Greater Anglia’s Customer and Community Engagement Manager, said:

“We are very grateful to the Essex & South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership and the Mister Gees Foundation for facilitating funding for the new water fountain.

“The 11 other fountains on our network have already proven very popular with customers, and we hope people in South Woodham Ferrers enjoy their free drinking water, too, as the weather warms up.

“We care about the environment, so we are delivering a number of projects to improve our energy-efficiency and operate in a more sustainable manner – from installing LED lighting, to recycling food waste, to providing free electric car charging points.

“The fountain at South Woodham Ferrers supports this aim by helping to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfill and oceans from single-use bottles.”