by Fern Shaw | Oct 16, 2013 | Health and Hydration, water cooler, Water Coolers
I still giggle when I think about drinking water fountains. Heavens only know why. We used to have one in the dojo I did karate at (jaha – more to this blogista than just a keyboard I tell ya). I just thought the water fountain was awfully clever. Our school certainly didn’t have them. No siree Bob, our school had school toilets – ugh – and school basins – double ugh – and Lifebuoy soap – *shudder*.
Then, schools changed and we got lucky. How so, you ask? This so, I say:
AquAid’s stylish drinking water fountains make a great addition to any school, gym or area where a high volume of water is required. Research has shown that children do not drink enough water during the school day which is why AquAid are one of the UK’s leading providers of water coolers and drinking fountains to schools. These machines offer you the added benefit of being durable as well as only using a small footprint.
Water Fountain – features:
- Rugged Steel construction
- Stainless steel sink top
- Both Swan neck and bubble options
- Extremely durable with proven reliability
- Drainage and mains water required
- Coil on Coil refrigerated cooling system resulting in reduced running costs
- Environmentally friendly
Why the emphasis on Water Coolers & Drinking Fountains for Schools?
Dehydration is serious for all of us, but no more so than to our children. At the time a child starts to feel thirsty, they will have already lost more than 20% of their ability to perform both physically and mentally. The direct result of this is not only a worsened academic performance but also lower concentration spans leading to increased classroom disruption.
An experiment in ‘brain hydration’ carried out at an Edinburgh primary school showed that the introduction of water bottles on pupils’ desks led to a significant improvement in national test results over a 2 year period. Despite these important facts:
- Two-thirds of children are still not getting enough drinking water, and
- A fifth of children drink no water at all,
according to research conducted by the Department of Health and Food Standards Agency.
So, this is rather marvellous news all round as having easy access to drinking water means a healthier and happier child, who is more able to pay attention in class, will have a better capacity to learn and will have sufficient (but not sugar-filled) energy to get through the day.
Please, contact us at AquAid today, we’ll be more than happy to take you through the choices for the optimum water cooler for use at your school; gym or play area.
by Fern Shaw | Oct 14, 2013 | Charity, Health and Hydration, water cooler, Water Coolers
Remember the heat wave? You must – it was only a month or so ago. Now, take those temperatures and turn up the heat, so to speak, by a good 8 °C. Or for that matter, another 10°C.
Now, take a good 38°C and couple it with scant shade … and … no water.
Then, to this rather sweltering image, add this: If you want drinking water, you need to walk to go and find it. And not just down to the corner caf, but a few miles. When you get there, you can’t just buy a bottle of water (or any liquid for that matter); you have to fill the bucket that you brought with you and walk back home, carrying the now full bucket.
Not enough Bear Grylls for you? The water that you’ve just fetched is most likely, not fresh, and not clean and may be so full of bacteria, that even while trying to hydrate yourself, you may very well be making yourself ill without even realising it.
Remember, this is just water for you (and possibly, members of your family) to drink. This is not water that is needed to wash your clothes or your dishes or to water your meagre food crop with. This is just water to drink to keep you going. This is basic human survival type of stuff.
This is the day to day existence for many communities throughout the Third World and in the summer months, lack of potable water is amplified by the heat.
That’s just one of the reasons that AquAid chose to work with sustainable charities like The Africa Trust.
Because although we’re always tooting our horn about being one of the top water cooler providers in the U.K. we also (truly) believe in helping others less fortunate to help themselves. So, while we have you to thank, most valued customer, for your support and through your purchases making it possible for others to help themselves; isn’t it rather nice to know that when you’re sipping cool spring water from one of our water coolers, there’s another Elephant Pump being built in Africa, bringing fresh, clean drinking water to yet another community in need?
I think so. Good on yer. Toot toot!
by Fern Shaw | Oct 14, 2013 | Health and Hydration
Yes, yes, I know we blather on about water conservation and that the long, hot summer (‘tun tun de dun’ – Style Council) has passed us by, but this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t maintain water saving ways throughout the year. Hopefully, if we teach ourselves and our families these rather nifty ways, the benefits will be with us for generations to come.
- Bedtime drinks for you = morning watering for plants – A night-time glass of water is a healthy habit and in the morning you can use the left over water to top up your house plants or throw it on your shrubs, good for you, good for the plants, good for your wallet and good for the environment
- When filling the bath put the plug in immediately and adjust the temperature as it fills rather than waiting to get the water coming out of the tap to the right temperature.
- Bathe young children together.
- Steam vegetables instead of boiling. They will be more nutritious and you will use less water and less electricity or gas to cook them.
- Rake and aerate the lawn every year so that water gets down to the roots of the grass instead of sitting on a hard matted surface and evaporating off.
- Fit a pistol grip nozzle on your hose pipe so water only comes out where and when you need it.
- Insulating your pipes can stop bursts in the winter; will cut your hot water bill and means that you get hot and cold water from the tap much faster.
- Rinse your razor in the sink – Put a bit of water in the sink to rinse you razor rather than using a running tap.
- Don’t waste the water from your veg – Water used to boil veg can be used for gravy or soup, or once cool, can add nutrients to your pot plants.
- Fill the kettle whilst you wait – Sometimes you have to run the tap to get hot or cold water (lagging might cut the wait time). Use this water to fill your kettle or keep a watering can by the sink for houseplants.
- Mulch, mulch, mulch – Mulching helps keep soil moist, it reduces evaporation by up to 75% and it adds organic matter to the soil. You can make your own using leaf litter or bark.
From our side, we take a 3-pronged approach (actually there are more ‘prongs’, but all good things and all that):
- Keeping you happy, healthy and hydrated by making drinking water available to you at the press of a button;
- Ensuring that the water that we deliver to you and replenish is from a good source and;
- Keeping it as local as we can – meaning that you should be able to find an AquAid branch close to you out of 32 branches available nationally.
by Fern Shaw | Oct 14, 2013 | Health and Hydration
A ground-breaking new Irish technology could change agriculture as we know it.
The technology – radio wave energised water – massively increases the output of vegetables and fruits by up to 30 per cent.
Not only are the plants much bigger but they are largely disease-resistant, meaning huge savings in expensive fertilisers and harmful pesticides.
Extensively tested in Ireland and several other countries, the inexpensive water treatment technology is now being rolled out across the world. The technology makes GM obsolete and also addresses the whole global warming fear that there is too much carbon dioxide in the air, by simply converting excess CO2 into edible plant mass.
Developed by Professor Austin Darragh and Dr JJ Leahy of Limerick University’s Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, the hardy eco-friendly technology uses nothing but the natural elements of sunlight, water, carbon dioxide in the air and the minerals in the soil.
The compact biscuit-tin-sized technology, which is called Vi-Aqua, meaning ‘life water’ – converts 24 volts of electricity into a radio signal, which charges up the water via an antenna. Once the device is attached to a hose, thousands of gallons of water can be charged up in less than 10 minutes at a cost of pennies.
Speaking about the new technology, Professor Austin Darragh says:
“Vi-Aqua makes water wetter and introduces atmospheric nitrogen into the water in the form of nitrates – so it is free fertiliser. It also produces the miracle of rejuvenating the soil by invigorating soil-based micro-organisms.
“We can also make water savings of at least 30 per cent. When the water is treated it becomes a better solvent, which means it can carry more nutrients to the leaves and stem and percolate better down into the soil to nourish the roots, which in turn produces a better root system. Hence the reason you need less water and why you end up with larger and hardier crops.”
Extensively tested in Warrenstown Agricultural College, the technology is being hailed as a modern day miracle.
Harold Lawler is Ireland’s foremost Agricultural Specialist. As Director of the National Botanical Gardens and former Master of Agricultural Science at Warrenstown Agricultural College, he has carried out more research on Vi-Aqua growth-enhancing technology than perhaps anyone else in the world:
“In the bedding plants we really saw a difference in the results; they were much hardier and tougher. You could drop a tray of these plants on the ground and they would not shatter, like ordinary plants.
“We also noticed that the treated plants needed far less fertiliser than the untreated ones. The roots took the nutrients in better whereas with other normal plants leaching of minerals occurs,” explains Harold Lawler.
Impressed, Harold Lawler’s research team carried out further extensive tests on a wide variety of vegetable plants:
“The iceberg lettuces were far superior with faster germination, and with carrots for example, the crops were on average 46 per cent heavier,” explains Harold Lawler.
Limerick University off- campus company ZPM Europe Ltd, who are based in the National Technology Park, Limerick, is now manufacturing the Vi-Aqua technology. – Extracts from an article by Tom Prendeville in the Sunday Independent – 25 August 2013
And for water to drink and keep you healthy and growing, there’s AquAid.
by Fern Shaw | Aug 30, 2013 | Health and Hydration, water cooler, Water Coolers
Last week we introduced the High Capacity Point of Use (POU) Water Cooler.
Before we get into today’s introduction, a note; I call them the ‘big boys’, not because of any gender preference, but somehow introducing these water cooler marvels as ‘the big girls’ just doesn’t ring true. I’m as fair as fair can be when it comes to assigning objects with gender (the French have absolutely no problem with gender assignation, le livre, la bicyclette), hey, my car is a boy – Newt he’s called.
Anyhow, it’s decided. Here is another of the ‘big boys’.
The AquAid 400 Free standing Mains Fed Water Cooler is a premium water cooler that combines style with outstanding performance.
This POU Cooler comes with a new Flood Guard, flood prevention device and it has Hygiene Guard anti-microbial taps fitted as a standard.
Spring quality water from your point of user water cooler
AquAid’s 400 Water Cooler connects to your mains supply and uses a unique, high quality Doulton water filtration system to deliver water that’s as refreshing and pure as water from bottle fed water coolers.
Freestanding Point of Use water cooler features:
1) 1 annual invoice, eliminating the administration involved with some bottled-water suppliers
2) No more running out of water
3) No more need to store big water bottles
4) High quality ‘Doulton’ water filtration system
5) Available as either Hot and Cold or Cold and Room Temperature
6) High quality stainless steel tank
7) Adjustable thermostat for accurate temperature control
8) Noiseless circuit in compact design
9) Flood Guard, flood prevention device
10) Hygiene Guard anti-microbial taps fitted as a standard.
11) Push-button taps for ultimate hygiene and convenience
Not only do AquAid have more distribution centres than you can shake a stick at, your local branch is usually managed and staffed by whizzes who really know their water coolers and whether a big boy or a bottle fed *WAH-WAAAH* is the way to go. We do have a lot more options, just by the by. I’ll be introducing you to the entire water cooler family in the next few weeks.
Patience dear reader, patience.
Ridiculous that, me asking for patience when I have zip, zero, none, but hey, it’s my blog.
by Fern Shaw | Aug 30, 2013 | Health and Hydration
“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
The term ‘running water’ has so many permutations as to be almost infinite. Running water can mean wastage. It can mean advancement in the distribution of water. It can also, as wise old Winnie-the-Pooh said above, teach us patience. As we know, patience is ha ha, not my strongest suit.
There are many schools of thought as to who first invented piped in water for bathing, I came across this while researching the running water topic:
Ancient Baths
Roman Baths
The Romans were famous for their baths, and they brought them even into Gaul and Britain. While Roman manors often had their own smaller private bath-houses, the Roman public generally frequented relatively inexpensive public baths. By the peak of their popularity, they included hot and cold rooms, and medium-temperature lounging rooms with a variety of extra services such as food, wine, exercise and/or personal training being offered. At different points in the history of Rome, baths were gender segregated by place or time, while at other times the bathing was mixed. (Fagan, Bathing in Public in the Roman World)
Judaic Ritual Bathing
Ritual bathing is also part of ancient (and modern) Jewish culture. Ritual cleansing baths (mikvot) from the classical period have been found in archaeological digs at multiple sites, including Masada.
The distinctive nature of mikveh structures causes them to be regarded as archaeological markers of Jewish communities at classical and medieval sites. A mikveh dating from around 1150 has been uncovered by archaeologists in Bristol, England (Aldous, p. 27), and another in Cologne, Germany dates from around 1170 (http://www.thetravelzine.com/ejht3.htm).
Early Christians
In the 4th and 5th centuries CE, ‘fathers of the Christian Church’ such as Clement and Jerome condemned excessive attendance at the public baths, and attendance for pleasure. Because bathhouses had mixed facilities, church authorities condemned women’s attendance at mixed gender bathhouses.
Eastern cultures
Roman-type baths were continued and/or re-established in Islamic countries through the medieval and Renaissance periods, and bathing was endorsed by Islamic writers. The hammam, referred to in modern times as the ‘Turkish Bath,’ was a major feature of Islamic culture, and preserved the Roman traditions of cleaning the body first, then soaking and socializing. Due to the Islamic religious requirements for frequent washing (when water was unavailable, dust or dirt could be used for ritual ablutions), baths and washing equipment remained popular. Some historians believe that the habit of the baths return to Western Europe from the Middle East with the Crusaders, but documentary evidence suggests that the resurgence of public baths in Western Europe may have been more a function of political and economic stability.
Japanese baths are of similar if not greater antiquity. Western writers claim that the soaking baths of Japan originate from the extensive use of Japanese hot springs. From A Short History of Bathing before 1601
Fascinating stuff. So, whether running water means wastage (tighten that tap!) or a gently burbling (not burping!) brook that teaches you Tao type patience, remember that we don’t recommend, nor suggest, that you use the AquAid water from source (3 of them, mind you) for bathing (yes, I know it’s been hot), but rather to refresh and hydrate your children at school and your staff in the office. As we all know, drinking sufficient water keeps you healthy both inside and out – it will even keep your skin looking plumped up and ramp gorgeous (even if you’re not into that type of thing). Cheers!
