Last week, the locations of 50 new public drinking water fountains in London were announced. The scheme, a joint venture between Thames Water and the mayor of London which will install 100 in total, aims to encourage people to use refillable water bottles, and cut the consumption of single-use plastics.

But while the initiative was welcomed by many, the design of the fountains – a white base with a large blue waterdrop on top – came under fire on social media.

The structures have been designed to be easy to spot and able to withstand all weathers. But one Twitter user branded them “naff”, another “hideous” – and historian and broadcaster Tom Dyckhoff tweeted: “Great idea. But these are the UGLIEST things ever designed by humans.”

Damning comparisons were made with elegant, ornate, Victorian-era water fountains:

However, while historical fountains look impressive, there are practical problems with restoring them, pointed out Jon Burke, cabinet member for energy, waste, transport and public realm at the London Borough of Hackney. He replied: “As part of Hackney’s new water fountain programme we’re bringing historical fountains back into use, but they cost three times to fix (let alone design/build) than a new one; the Victorian ones are often not disability compliant; and we’ve lost £130m/yr from the Gov’t ...”

Several years ago, a design challenge in London asked six architecture firms for proposals for new fountains. One architect tweeted “Five years ago I helped judge a competition to design new water fountains for London. Some were more successful than others, but all were better than this.”

Meanwhile, people shared photos on Twitter of drinking water fountains in other cities:

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