Water in Schools – Does your children’s school promote the drinking of water?

Water in Schools – Does your children’s school promote the drinking of water?

by | Mar 9, 2017 | mains fed water cooler, Water Coolers

*Various campaigns and studies to do with schools and drinking water conducted over the last decade or so have produced a mixed bag of results.

What is clear though: a hydrated child is a much happier child. This fact, combined with you as the parents leading by example and the schools ensuring that drinking water is readily available, makes for a more holistic approach to hydration.

It boosts learning

  • The key to boosting the capacity to learn is to keep well hydrated throughout the day.
  • When we are thirsty, mental performance including memory, attention and concentration can decrease by around 10%. Pupils concentrate better because they are not distracted by the effects of dehydration such as thirst, tiredness and irritability.
  • Children will achieve more when both their health and learning needs are met. Ensuring free access to water and promoting a regular water intake throughout the school day is a vital role for schools in promoting health and providing a healthy learning environment.

It’s healthy!

  • Drinking adequate amounts of water regularly throughout the day can protect health and contribute to well-being.
  • Drinking sufficient water can help prevent a range of short and long-term health problems that stem from dehydration such as lethargy; dizziness; constipation; headaches and bladder, kidney and bowel problems.
  • Water has none of the health problems associated with drinks containing sugar, additives, sweeteners, acids or caffeine.

Parents?

  • By keeping yourself hydrated, you teach your children good drinking habits. 
  • By checking that your children’s school has ablutions that you would use and that there are sufficient drinking points (not only in the toilets), you’re working your way towards ensuring that your children are able to easily hydrate while at school.

And for the school?

  • Various studies have shown that schools that lead by example and encourage their children to keep hydrated show a marked improvement in overall attention given as well as learning capabilities.
  • A child who is not irritable because of dehydration means that teachers are able to better teach their pupils.

At AquAid, being involved in the provision of water for more than 20 years, we know that keeping hydrated is of vital importance. To this end, we continue to ensure that we provide the right water dispensers to meet the hydration requirements when installing our water coolers into schools, gyms and learning centres across the country.

When AquAid install a water cooler in a school or learning facility, individual water bottles are also supplied to encourage the children to fill their water bottles throughout the day.

Our water coolers can either be Mains Fed for large schools where the water consumption is high, or Bottle Fed for schools where there are no water mains close to a particular area.

*Updated from a blog posted 11 March 2013

Ten (Five) Reasons Having a Water Cooler Is Good For You – Part II

Ten (Five) Reasons Having a Water Cooler Is Good For You – Part II

by | Feb 21, 2017 | mains fed water cooler, water cooler, Water Coolers

  1. Low Maintenance

You don’t need to worry about tedious maintenance and upkeep with a new water cooler. Unlike most appliances, they are very easy to maintain. Most units only require that you keep the dispenser or dispensing area clean. This usually means emptying the drip tray as needed. Aside from this, you don’t need to worry – all our sanitation engineers and delivery drivers have undertaken mandatory hygiene training and we automatically sanitise all bottle-fed water dispensers every 3 months and all mains-fed water dispensers every 6 months.

  1. Features and Accessories

All AquAid Water Coolers offer features and options to best suit where they’re installed. For example, we assess whether you should be installing a bottle fed or mains fed water cooler and will recommend accordingly.  A drinking chart is provided to illustrate how much water you should be drinking every day. For school installations, AquAid provide individual water bottles for the children.

  1. Convenient Water with a Pure Fresh Taste

With a water cooler, you can enjoy the convenience of having on-demand water whenever you want it. The water is pure, fresh and great tasting. Our bottled water is sourced from natural springs from three locations around the UK and our mains fed coolers have advanced filtration systems providing you with clean, fresh drinking water. Best of all you’ll enjoy not having to bring your own bottled water purchased from stores every day as you’ll have access to water all day.

  1. Charitable Aspect

Imagine that by your drinking water you’re benefitting those in need, and then speak to us because this is something that AquAid do. For each water cooler purchased and bottle of spring water that we deliver, a donation is made to the charities that we’ve supported since AquAid began.

  1. Drink More Water

Many people that install water coolers for themselves, their staff, children, patients and customers find that they drink more water because it’s readily available. This means that you can enjoy a healthier lifestyle because you are drinking the recommended amount of water per day.

Whatever your water cooler requirements are, AquAid have more than twenty years of experience in the provision of the right water cooler for your work space – wherever you’re situated and whatever space you occupy throughout England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

How to Waterly Increase Productivity in the Workplace

How to Waterly Increase Productivity in the Workplace

by | Feb 21, 2017 | water cooler, Water Coolers

A survey conducted by a recruitment agency, polling hundreds of employers from various companies, found that the predominant reason for a drop in productivity was employees being glued to their mobiles.

Other employer bugbears which topped the list were:

  • Internet usage;
  • Social media; 
  • Snack or smoke breaks; 
  • Noisy colleagues.

*Fifty percent of employers surveyed nationally named mobiles and texting as the main bad habits getting in the way of work being done, while good old fashioned office gossip was their second biggest bugbear.

According to the survey, 24 percent of employers list ‘noisy co-workers’ as an obstacle to productivity, while another 23 percent say co-workers stopping by each other’s work spaces are to blame.

There seems to be a slight contradiction in the feedback though, as typing e-mails was also seen as a time waster, with a suggestion to rather walk on over and speak directly to the intended e-mail recipient as this was usually a lot quicker and used less time than typing up and sending the e-mail and waiting for a response. So, if you’re wasting time typing e-mails when a quick conversation will do, should you be inter office e-mailing or rather speaking directly to your colleagues, or not?

Employees chatting around the water cooler were also mentioned as a bugbear, but at least being at the water cooler, you’d imagine the initial idea would be water replenishment and as we know, drinking sufficient water at work (or throughout your day, wherever you are) has proven, time and again, to improve one’s focus, mental alertness and concentration, which more easily enables an increase in one’s productivity.

Perhaps the solution is to apply the adage ‘everything in moderation’ whereby employers can encourage healthy hydration habits but ask that their employees keep their water cooler time to be more water replenishment focused and less chit chat central.

*excerpts from an article at The Daily Mail

Are all Water Cooler suppliers the same?

Are all Water Cooler suppliers the same?

by | Jan 23, 2017 | water cooler, Water Coolers

We don’t believe so. There are a multitude of water cooler suppliers in the UK, but there is only one AquAid. What sets AquAid apart are the integral inclusions that we provide with each water cooler purchase. These aren’t add-ons – although we offer those too – these are inclusions that we and many satisfied customers believe to be what makes AquAid a cut above.

So you have now had your brand spanking new water cooler installed and your first question is:

We have a bottle-fed water cooler – how often will I get a water delivery?

You’re automatically placed onto our fortnightly delivery round, which means that we will deliver to you on the same day every 2 weeks. This way we both can determine the quantity of water that you require to keep you hydrated during the two weeks.

But what if I run out of water?

AquAid offers all our customers a free of charge 24hour emergency service should you run out of water. We know the importance of keeping hydrated and will always do our best to avoid situations that will leave you without any drinking water.

How often will my water cooler be serviced and do I have to call to book the service?

As per the EDWCA guidelines, we sanitise all mains fed water coolers every 6 months and bottle fed water coolers will be serviced every 3 months. The service will be carried out by our very experienced service technicians and should take no longer than 20 minutes of your time. You do not need to remind us to service your machine. Our systems automatically let us know as and when your machines are due for their service.

Hmm, fair enough … but I’m a little concerned about how this bottled water is getting to us in terms of your carbon footprint. Is my AquAid local?

It most definitely is – AquAid have 29 distribution points across the UK, which means that your water cooler; water and water cups deliveries; as well as your water cooler maintenance and servicing all originates from your local AquAid branch.

Now, the biggie – what else makes AquAid stand apart from other water cooler suppliers?

Since the inception of AquAid almost 2 decades ago – we believed and continue to believe that donating to charities that provide sustainable solutions for those less fortunate is vitally important to a successful business. AquAid are very proud of our association with the charities that we work with. With every bottle of water that we supply a 30p donation is made to The Africa Trust along with a £20 donation when a Mains Fed Water Cooler is installed. Christian Aid also receives a 10p donation with every bottle of water that we supply. To date we have donated in excess of 10 million pounds.

If you would like to enquire about our water coolers, products and services, we’d welcome hearing from you.

To call us at AquAid: 0800 772 3003

To e-mail us: Click here

If you’d like to browse our range of water coolers: Click here

To follow us on social media: Twitter and Facebook

                                                    

Water Cooler, Water Boiler … Cuppa Tea

Water Cooler, Water Boiler … Cuppa Tea

by | Jan 23, 2017 | Water Boilers, water cooler, Water Coolers

There’s been some rather soggy weather in England this week – bit rude I’d say – it’s only October.

While you’re keeping warm indoors and contemplating life, the weather in general and how soaked you’ll get outdoors if you make a dash for it, here are a few thoughts that may make you beam with British pride; warm you up and intrigue your grey matter.

It was recently the 385th anniversary of tea in the UK.

They say that a cuppa cures all ills and they’re not far wrong – whether you’re using your hot water boiler or combination AquAid chiller/boiler in the office, or school or at home – or boiling water with the kettle at home – there’s very little that can’t be cured by the brew.

But a few years away from our four hundredth year of drinking tea, our knowledge may not be as encyclopaedic as we’d like to think it is! In celebration of this anniversary, a few facts and myth busters that may amuse or interest you:

How many cups a day?

More than 165,000,000 cups are being drunk in the UK every single day of the year.

Brits didn’t invent the tea bag

The tea bag was invented by a nation that is more associated with coffee – America.

Although there are some records of loose-leaf bags being used in ancient China, the first labour-saving teabag was created by US tea merchant Thomas Sullivan.

Tea breaks were invented by modern office workers

Tea breaks are actually a tradition which has been around for about two hundred years. Initially when workers commenced their day at around 5 or 6am, employers allowed a break in the morning when food and tea were served. Some employers repeated the break in the afternoon as well, according to The UK Tea and Infusions Association.

Between 1741 and 1820 industrialists, landowners and clerics tried to put a stop to the tea break maintaining that tea drinking and rest made working people slothful. Modern thinking couldn’t be further away from this – regular tea breaks can play a vital part in the day to help maintain a positive attitude towards work and a very necessary fluid intake.

And the best news of all;

Tea doesn’t go off

Take note though, if you leave your tea for a time, those little leaves won’t be as fresh after six months. The flavour may not suffer, but the brew will lose its antioxidants. The best way to preserve the efficacy of the antioxidants is by storing your tea in a sealed container in a dark, cool place.

If this weather keeps up, proper tea storage certainly won’t be hard.

If you’d like know more about AquAid water coolers and water boiler products, specials and our life saving charity partnerships, please *  e-mail or ☏ us on 0800 772 3003. We’d be delighted to assist you.