法國巴黎公共供水公司于本周二在巴黎東部的一個公園推出了該市首個公共飲水機，可免費無限量為市民提供氣泡水，希望由此減少瓶裝水的消費及其對環境的污染。據介紹，公共飲水機中的水有加氣、未加氣、冰鎮及常溫等不同選擇，以滿足市民的不同需求。巴黎公共供水系統的水一半來自于160公里以外的地下泉，另一半則是來自于塞納河和馬恩河，經過過濾和凈化處理后均可安全飲用。供水公司的發言人表示，推出公共飲水機就是為了提升巴黎自來水的形象，告訴人們巴黎的自來水是絕對安全的，而且這樣的飲用方式很環保，不需要包裝，不會產生垃圾，對環境沒有污染。他同時指出，如果該公共飲水機受到普遍歡迎，今后還會推廣到其他人群密集的公共場所。法國是全球第八大瓶裝水消費國。2009年，法國人消耗瓶裝水產生的廢物有26.2萬噸。

Eco-conscious Parisians can now get their sparkling water free and in unlimited supply at a new public drinking fountain installed by city authorities, which aims to wean consumers off bottled water and onto tap.(Agencies)

Eco-conscious Parisians can now get their sparkling water free and in unlimited supply at a new public drinking fountain installed by city authorities, which aims to wean consumers off bottled water and onto tap.

Unveiled on Tuesday in the Jardin de Reuilly park in the east of the city by publicly owned water company Eau de Paris, the fountain injects carbon dioxide into regular tap water to make it bubbly, and chills it before delivering it to consumers.

Separate faucets also provide a still version of the beverage, both refrigerated and unrefrigerated, and again pumped directly from the city's own public water supply

"Our aim is to boost the image of Paris tap water," said Philippe Burguiere, spokesman for Eau de Paris.

"We want to show that we're proud of it, that it's totally safe, and that it's ecological as there's no oil involved, no waste and no packaging," he said.

The French are the world's eighth biggest consumers of bottled water, downing an average of 128 litres (28 Imp gallons) each of the still or sparkling beverage in 2009, according to statistics from the Earth Policy Institute.

That generated over 262,000 tonnes of plastic waste, while just making the bottles consumed close to 4.5 million barrels of crude oil equivalent.

According to Burguiere, in Paris at least, there's absolutely no need for consumers to buy bottled water.

Half of the city's public water supply comes directly from underground springs located up to 160 km (99.42 miles) away. The other half is pumped from the rivers Seine and Marne then filtered, treated and tested to make it safe for consumption.

For lovers of sparkling water, however, switching to the tap version will still mean a trek to the public park rather than picking up a six-pack from the supermarket, and there's no guarantee that consumers will prove willing.

"This is a first, so we're going to watch how Parisians react and whether there's an uptake. Then we might gradually install others in the busiest parks," said Burguiere.

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(Agencies)

Vocabulary:

wean...off: Slowly stop a dependency on something, 逐漸放棄...

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）