London’s new wave of drinking fountains have proved popular, with figures suggesting that thirsty members of the public have drunk thousands of litres of water from them since the first four were installed in the capital earlier this year.

According to the team behind the installations, more than 8,000 litres of water have been dispensed in under a month from two drinking fountains installed at Liverpool Street Station – equal to 16,000 standard bottles of water – while another fountain, installed off Carnaby Street in March, has been used more than 10,000 times a month since tracking began in early June.

The move to install an initial set of 20 drinking fountains across the capital is part of a plan by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and partners to tackle the issue of single-use plastic. An investigation by the Guardian last year revealed that a million plastic bottles are sold worldwide every minute, with large numbers contributing to ocean pollution, or ending up in landfill.

“Water fountains are a simple but effective way to encourage Londoners and visitors to ditch plastic bottles and instead refill reusable ones,” said Khan.

The figures came as Khan unveiled the locations of the remaining drinking fountains which will be put in place across the capital by the end of the year.

“With the hot weather we’ve seen this summer, the demand is greater than ever for quick and easy ways of accessing free drinking water and I’m pleased to confirm the locations for the first 20 of our new public water fountains. Some of these are already attracting thousands of visitors a day,” added Khan.

London is not the first city to see drinking fountains spring up; cities including Bristol and Hull have installed fountains in recent years, while London’s Borough Market installed its own drinking fountains in 2017..

Dr Heather Koldewey, co-director of the #OneLess campaign against single-use plastic which is a partner in mayor’s drinking fountain scheme, said the 20 locations were chosen from a large pool of applications, with £85,000 available to help fund installation – £50,000 of which came from the mayor and £35,000 from MIW Water Cooler Experts, who also provided the fountains.

“We were snowed under by applications,” said Koldewey, adding the final selection was based on areas which had high footfall where it was judged people would most need water, such as transport hubs and recreational areas, were open to all, and where fountains would be well maintained and could be installed easily.

The #OneLess campaign has found the average Londoner buys more than three plastic water bottles a week, but Koldewey said the public were keen to embrace an alternative.

“It has really validated our research that said if you provide the water fountains, [people] will come and they will use them.”

London’s 20 new drinking fountains

Kingly Court, Carnaby St

Liverpool Street Station #1

Liverpool Street Station #2

Heart of Valentines Park, Redbridge

Bexleyheath town centre

North Acton station square

Windrush Square, Brixton

Ladywell Fields

Beckhenham Place Park

Horniman Museum and Gardens

Paddington Recreation Ground

Acton Park

Guy’s Hospital

St Thomas’ Hospital

Swiss Cottage Open Space

Camberwell Green

Nisbett Walk, Sidcup town centre

Natural History Museum

St Alban’s Street, St James’s

The London School of Economics and Political Science