Bundanoon, a small town in the Southern Highlands, made headlines in 2009 for their community-led initiative to become a ‘bottle-free town’. Local citizens were concerned about the environmental impact of water bottles, and a meeting of 20 local businesses led to a community agreement to phase them out.
Street Furniture Australia launched the Arqua Station in 2008. It was the result of a collaboration with the environmental group Do Something! to develop a public drinking fountain and water refill pole for single-use bottles in order to reduce the impact of plastic bottles in landfill.
SFA’s research and development team designed an innovative water fountain that exceeded existing models and dealt with common problems such as poor hygiene, vandalism and inadequate access for wheelchair-users.
The Arqua Station was the perfect solution for Bundanoon in their quest to become ‘bottle-free). Today, free filtered water stations provide a clean water supply to the general public, including local primary school children, and bottled water is no longer available in the town.