Water cooler suppliers – why local is better

One of the biggest problems that many water cooler owners have is that they have to wait a few days for their water to be delivered when their water bottles are empty. With over thirty two depots across England, Scotland and Wales, AquAid guarantees to have a water supplier close to you.

The advantage that AquAid have with all these water agents across the UK is that they can guarantee that you will be serviced in less than 24h every time your water bottle is close to being empty. There are many further advantages and benefits of using a water coolers supplier in your local area. Firstly, they are more familiar to the local road and areas and will therefore be able to deliver on time, without excuses or delays. Secondly, it creates a stable and growing infrastructure for employment. This ensures that local business owners are kept in business, instead of being bullied out by large multinational companies.

Another great benefit that must not be forgotten is the environmental impact that local companies have over larger suppliers. Local suppliers will use smaller, more environmentally friendly transport vehicles, where other suppliers have to use big trucks to deliver their water bottles to all their clients in a particular area. These trucks can cause congestion on major roads and the smoke emitted by them is harmful not only to you, but also to the environment. The other downside is also that these suppliers need to stock thousands of bottles in one location to deliver across the country. Often their storage facilities are not properly monitored and water can stand for weeks before being delivered to their clients.

With local suppliers, the stock levels are kept at a sufficient level to supply the local market and they are better looked after. With AquAid, you are guaranteed to get the best bottled water at a drop of a hat.

There are many reasons to use a local supplier and the benefits are all in your favour. Give the local AquAid office a call and let them show you what water supply should look like.

Water Coolers – environmentally friendly

With the current water supply situation in the UK getting more serious each day, it is time to consider installing a water cooler into your office or learning facility. We also need to look at how we use our water sparingly, as it is a resource that has a limit.

As the drought in certain areas of the UK start to increase, some areas might even be placed under water restrictions to ensure sufficient water for everyone. But what can we do to aid in protecting water, and ensuring that the restrictions do not become too strict?

The best place to start is in your home or office. Ensure that no taps are leaking or dripping for the entire day. If they are, get a technician in to fix the problem. Thousands of litres of drinkable water is lost every minute to drops and leaks everywhere. Another simple and practical water saving tip is to not let the water run while you are brushing your teeth in the morning. Often we do this, not thinking that all that water is literally going down the drain. Wet your toothbrush and switch the water off. When you need to rinse, then go ahead and do so. The same goes for the kitchen. Rather fill the basin with water and was your pots and pans that way, then rinse them clean in another basin of water when you are done. Do not wash with hot running water. It will save water and electricity fee each month, and it will aid the environment dramatically.

Imagine if just a thousand people could save 100L of water each day. That is 100’000 litres of water each day and 365’000000 litres of water each year.

The drought in certain parts of England might have an effect on mains fed water availability, but having a water cooler installed will ensure that you will always have clean, fresh and filtered water at your disposal. With companies’ like AquAid who get their water from a natural spring, they are not reliant on rainfall to ensure sufficient water and you will be able to rest assured that when you need water, they will always be ready and waiting to assist you.

The Africa Trust Update – March 2012

The Africa Trust was founded by AquAid to achieve sustainable solutions to poverty.

 Business Skills Training

The business skills training programme has been expanded to include Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi. Training is provided for people to start new businesses or improve and expand existing businesses. The Africa Trust is also providing loan capital to assist those people who have developed promising business models, but lack the funds to get started. Many small businesses were started in Uganda and Zimbabwe over the last year (following training by The Africa Trust) and some are now receiving further specialist advice along with peer review at monthly meetings. For example, people running a dairy cattle project in Zimbabwe, now benefit from visits by livestock specialists.

This helps to ensure that the cattle remain in good health so are able to provide large quantities of high quality milk. Soft cheese, sour milk, yoghurt and ice-cream are also being produced and a dairy has been established to pasteurize the milk, allowing for sale to the local city. These dairy products also require some specialist training to ensure quality and to market them effectively.

Bishop Samuel Ciira (with his one dairy cow) – He will be receiving business skills training from The Africa Trust later this month in Nakuru, Kenya

Clean Water for Life

During 2011, 367 new Elephant Pumps were installed in addition to work on some of the five thousand existing pumps, which are maintained by The Africa Trust in Zimbabwe. The Ilboru pipeline in Tanzania was extended to bring clean water to thousands more people near Arusha and work on a second pipeline is now being planned. The chief executive visited the Ilboru pipeline last month and was able to help the local community develop a village savings and loans scheme with money saved due to having a vastly cheaper supply of water.

Johnston Barnaba, who works for The Africa Trust in Tanzania, opens one of the taps of the Ilboru Pipeline.

People living in some of the most remote Maasai communities in Tanzania and Kenya have to walk two days to find clean water, which they carry on donkeys in plastic containers and in calabashes. Many rural communities drink from open contaminated sources, which are also used by animals. Users of AquAid water coolers have helped millions in Africa gain access to sustainable supplies of clean drinking water, and this work continues every day.

 Work is being done to help people in remote rural areas make their own household water filters using clay and fine sawdust. The two ingredients are mixed, moulded and fired to produce earthenware pots, which slowly filter dirty water into a container below. A small quantity of colloidal silver solution can be painted onto the filter to improve effectiveness. Boiling of water is not always possible due to the scarcity of firewood, so these simple household filters, which cost less than two pounds to make, can be life-saving. People in Africa know that dirty water makes them sick, but many have no choice but to drink it.

Ngeli lives two days walk from the nearest source of drinking water.

He made his shoes from pieces of an old car tyre.

Office water coolers – Part 3

Water bottles for staff

 How often do we sit down at our work desk or in front of our computers, only to look up and realise half the day has passed. This little time loss is one of biggest reasons staff members often forget to drink enough water at work during office hours. It might look good to sit glued to your computer working all day long, but dehydration can lead to a reducing in mental and physical performance of up to 20%.

A great way of avoiding dehydration at your desk is to take a water bottle to work with you, or if you are the business owner, consider providing your staff with water bottles for their desks. In the morning before you start your busy day, fill your water bottle from the water cooler and keep it on your desk where you can see it and use it often. For business owners this might be the perfect opportunity to supply your staff with branded water bottles so that when they are walking to work, or in the gym, other people will be able to see the bottles and it will provide added business exposure.  Encourage your staff members to use their water bottles and to fill them during lunch and tea breaks.

Office workers who drink enough water each day will provide better service and will perform better at their work. Other added benefits of drinking your daily water requirements are that sufficient hydration reduces the risk of many cancers, infections, diseases and ailments like headaches and constipation. For every business owner these benefits should be reason enough to aid their staff in drinking more water. The time and money lost when just one staff member is sick for an extended period of time will be far more costly than the cost of water.

Keeping staff members and office workers hydrated is easy once you know the simple ways of encouraging them.

Office water coolers – Part 2

The many benefits and advantages of water coolers have been discussed and the facts are clear that every office and school should have a sufficient amount of water coolers in their buildings. But where is the best place to site a water cooler so that your employees make the most of the what they have to offer?

The best locations are usually where the most traffic in the work place or learning facility is. Placing the water cooler in the kitchen or corner of the office will only encourage people to make use of the water cooler when they occasionally pass that area. The best placement is close to areas where staff members often use equipment or facilities. Close to the printers or scanners work well because the person might have to wait a few seconds for the printer while it is finalising their work.  These areas are also often meeting places for staff members during the working day and while they discuss business they can enjoy a cool, clean and refreshing cup of water.

Another great place to place the water cooler is in the reception area of the office. This will allow visitors and staff members entering the office the opportunity to quickly grab a cup of water either on their way in our out of the building or office. It is important to remember to take into account the traffic in the office or area that you are placing your water coolers. If you have a fairly large office, with hundreds of staff members or clients, then one water cooler will struggle to keep up with the demand. Consider additional water cooler units so that you can place the units in all the busy areas to ensure that there is sufficient hydration available for everyone.

Try and keep records of each water cooler and see which one uses the most and note the ones that are used the least in your office. Look at their locations and try and duplicate the successful one so that the other water coolers in your office become equally used. Play around with them and see what works best. Maybe place a water cooler next to the notice board if your office has one. The options are endless, just be creative and you will succeed in keeping your staff healthy, happy and efficient.

Water coolers and sanitisation

We all love the water coolers in our offices and schools but, do you know if that water cooler is ever cleaned correctly? How many people touch the water cooler in your office each day? There is one water cooler supplier that cleans and sanitizers their water coolers every three months. The AquAid water cooler company cleans and sanitises their water coolers and water bottles at least every three months with an ozone generator.

Ozone (O3) is a gas very similar to normal oxygen (O2), just with an added oxygen molecule. How the ozone works is very interesting. The ozone molecules are reagents, meaning that they react when they come into contact with other particles or molecules. This reaction leads to the destruction of the substance that the ozone comes in contact with. The advantage that ozone has is that once it has reacted, it becomes harmless. In water the effect of ozone is that it will kill all unwanted bacteria, spores and viruses, leaving the water container and water dispenser clean, clear and safe. The ozone will rapidly dissolve in the water, turning into harmless oxygen. It has no taste or odour and therefore it is the perfect environmental sanitizer.

The water purification and cleaning that ozone offers is so effective that many first world municipalities are starting to use it to clean all their city’s water supplies. Gym and training swimming pools are following the municipalities’ examples to ensure their water users get the best quality water available. The reason for this is that no chemicals need to be added to purify the water supply, reducing the need for harmful products like chlorine in the water.

So the next time you use your water cooler, stop and ask when last it was cleaned. Ensure that your office or school use a water supplier like AquAid to ensure that you are always looked after and kept safe. Think before you drink water.