CIVIC chiefs are set to splash out £20,000 on new drinking fountains for Southampton.

Council environment bosses hope it will help to reduce plastic pollution in the city.

The fountains are set to be placed in public buildings, such as the civic centre and the city’s libraries.

And council chiefs say they could even look to have the fountains installed outside in green spaces and parks.

The move, proposed as part of the authority’s 2018/19 budget, is aimed at promoting the reuse of water bottles.

Southampton City Council leader, Simon Letts, said: “We are trying to encourage people to reuse their water bottles rather than buying a new one by offering clean and free water.

“These will be the types of water fountains where you can put your bottle underneath.

“We will start with indoor fountains in civic buildings because it is more cost effective, but we could have one or two outside.”

Councillor Letts added that the outdoor water fountains would cost more due to the need for more stringent cleaning and checks for diseases.

He also said the locations of the outdoor fountains would be in areas where there is already clean running water.

One person to support the scheme was city Greenpeace volunteer, Rhia Weston.

She said: “I think it is a really good move.

“In terms of plastic waste, this is a step in the right direction.

“I hope that they are well signposted so that people use them.”

A report, published last year by Euromonitor International, revealed that approximately one million plastic bottles are produced around the world every minute.

Most plastic bottles used for soft drinks and water are made from polyethylene terephthalate, which is highly recyclable.

However, fewer than half of the bottles bought in 2016 were collected for recycling and just seven per cent turned into new bottles.

Instead, most plastic bottles produced end up in landfill or in the ocean.