Coca Cola is a major sponsor in this year’s summer Olympics in London, but soft drinks and wasteful bottled water aren’t the only options for thirsty attendees and athletes.

Thanks to forward-thinking Olympic spokesperson Tom Brake insisted back in 2008 that the London Olympics would make tap water readily available, so that folks wouldn’t have to rely on bottled water. In a 2008 press release about the policy, Brake said:

Everyone wants the 2012 Games to be the most sustainable on record. That must mean free non-bottled water for all visitors to the Games. Otherwise the discarded bottles will stretch to the Moon and back. And there would be a great health spin-off from increased water consumption and a reduction in fizzy drink consumption as well.
The organizers put designated filling stations for your water bottle throughout the London Olympic Park.

When you consider the thousands of people that flooded into London for the 2012 Olympic games, ready access to tap water could have a huge environmental impact. Think of how many single-serving plastic bottles they’re diverting from the landfill by making it easy for everyone to fill up their reusable bottles instead.

For security reasons you can’t bring a full bottle of water into the Games if it’s over 3.4 ounces, but you can bring an empty and fill it up for free all day long.

Source: GO MEDIA: Written by Becky Striepe - Image Credit: Creative Commons London Olympics photo by DAVID HOLT