Seattle adds free downtown water refill stations

The rollout comes as Seattle prepares to host six FIFA World Cup matches this summer, Seattle Public Utilities notes. The soccer tournament is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city.

• Each unit cost about $5,000.

What they're saying: "We were motivated by the increasingly frequent and severe heat waves that take place in our region during the summer," Kahreen Tebeau of Seattle Public Utilities wrote in a emailed statement to Axios.

• The utility wanted to make it easier for people to refill water bottles during those emergencies while also reducing waste from single-use plastic bottles year-round, Tebeau said.

The new drinking water stations are located at:

• 1000 2nd Ave.
• 501 Olive Way
• 1398 3rd Ave.
• 898 3rd Ave.
• 298 James St.
• 100 Pike St.
• 201 Occidental Ave.