London 2012: victory in the battle against bottles!

3.37.00pm GMT Mon 10th Nov 2008

Tom Brake MP, Liberal Democrat Olympics spokesman, received assurances from The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games that they 'will ensure the provision of free drinking water to the public at Games venue'.

Paul Deighton, chief executive of the LOCOG confirms in a letter dated from 28th October that they 'will ensure the provision of free drinking water to the public at Games venue.' He also explains that 'the mechanism for providing this may vary from venue to venue depending on the type of infrastructure available and we will be reviewing this matter as we advance through our operational planning processes.'

Last month, Tom had called on the Minister for the Olympics, the Mayor of London and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to install the equipment to provide free non-bottled drinking water on all the Olympics sites.

'This is a major victory in a London wide campaign led by the Evening Standard to have free water on tap. But we need to maintain the pressure on the LOCOG and check through all the long building process if they really install free drinking water fountains.' Tom commented.

'I am still completely aware that worldwide sponsors of the 2012 Olympics have huge financial interests in selling their products on the sites. I have planned several meetings with all the Olympics official sponsors to discuss with them how to keep our Olympics green' added Tom Brake.