by Fern Shaw | Mar 16, 2023 | Africa Trust, Water Coolers
As you know, here at AquAid we tend not to err on the side of caution when talking about water. Especially drinking water. Clean, fresh drinking water in Africa, where millions of people do not have access to the life giving stuff as we do. It may seem a bit negative, but that isn’t really the case.
These two articles are case in point.
The first, from The Daily Mail, reads:
‘Huge reserves of underground water in some of the driest parts of Africa could provide a buffer against the effects of climate change for years to come, scientists said.
Researchers from the British Geological Survey and University College London have for the first time mapped the aquifers, or groundwater, across the continent and the amount they hold.
‘The largest groundwater volumes are found in the large sedimentary aquifers in the North African countries Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Sudan,’ the scientists said in their paper.’
The other, from The Telegraph, states:
‘Scientists using technology developed to search for oil have discovered a vast underground water reservoir in one of Kenya’s driest regions that if properly managed could supply the country’s needs for close to 70 years.
Researchers from a French-American firm, Radar Technologies International, worked with the Kenyan government and UNESCO to layer satellite, radar and geological maps on top of each other, and then used seismic techniques developed to find oil to identify the reservoir.
It lies in Kenya’s extreme northwest, close to its borders with South Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda. The area is sparsely populated and prone to conflict over existing scarce resources.’
See, now, this is actually marvellous news, but with this, a word of caution:
“But knowing there’s water there, and then getting it to the surface, are two different things …” Brian McSorley, a water expert at Oxfam in Nairobi, said.
And therein lays the rub. Deep underground there is potable water – even in the Sahara Desert – but reaching it can be problematic.
That’s why sustainable, practical and cost-effective solutions are important. One such solution that has been in operation for over a decade now, addressing this exact problem, can be found through The Africa Trust. A charity started by AquAid and Ian Thorpe. One of the many solutions that this award-winning organisation provides is the building of Elephant Pumps throughout disadvantaged communities across Africa.
No, they don’t use real elephants. The Elephant Pump is a water pump based on an ancient Chinese design. The pump has been adapted to make it stronger and more durable. It is built from and maintained using materials that are locally available in remote rural sub-Saharan African communities. The design and build of these pumps is such that 95% are still in operation today – a figure 40% above the average for the continent.
If you are interested in installing high-quality water coolers in your organisation, which not only dispense refreshing drinking water for your entire staff contingent but also ensure automatic donations that fund the provision of sustainable water projects for thousands of communities, contact us here at AquAid Water Coolers today.
by Fern Shaw | Mar 13, 2023 | water cooler, Water Coolers
With the onset of and phenomenal expansion and growth of social media, it probably doesn’t come as any surprise that the water cooler – the original real-life social chit-chat gathering station – may have had its amount of drinking water gatherers significantly reduced.
According to Statista, as of January 2023, the most popular social networks worldwide ranked by number of monthly active users are:
Facebook remains the most popular, with 2.9 billion users monthly.
YouTube ranks second, with 2.5 billion monthly users, with WeChat and TikTok ranked fifth and sixth respectively. However, one must take into consideration that it is Meta Platforms that owns four of the biggest social media platforms, all with over one billion monthly active users each: Facebook (core platform), WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram.
Although I am well immersed in the world of social media, these stats did jostle me out of my little neck of the woods comfort zone. Luckily, considering human needs and behaviour, it’s probably unlikely that online digital socialising will ever replace the need to replenish one’s drinking water, all while having an enjoyable catch up with colleagues at the water cooler at work, the office and play.
by Fern Shaw | Mar 1, 2023 | mains fed water cooler, water cooler, Water Coolers
Are we getting a little ahead of ourselves? Of course we are. Why? Because we can.
If you’re wondering what we’re referring to, we’re talking about March 1st being the first day of spring. March first isn’t actually the first day of spring, that’s on 20 March. However, most meteorologists recognize March 1 as the first day of meteorological spring. With a nod of approval from such auspicious quarters, we’re going with it.
The icy grip of winter seemed so recent when lo and behold, the crocuses peeked their beautiful heads out of the soil and officially announced it’s spring.
Whatever way we approach this change of season, keeping fit and perhaps shedding some of our bear type hibernation weight becomes somewhat of a priority. This means (hopefully), that one’s water intake will increase too. To make your water intake more fab and fun, try a different approach to ensure good hydration habits
If drinking water all day is what bores you, try treating it as a meal or, better yet, three meals. Drink water to a comfortable fullness 3 times a day. On colder days, it might be less, on warmer days, more. Comfortable fullness should be enough to stay hydrated. This will lower the amount of calories you eat for roughly an hour afterward.
Simply change the way you drink water – out of a glass instead of a bottle, for example. Alternatively, drink it at a different temperature. If you change the temperature, you can change the experience and that can be enough to alter your water intake. Remember, cold water takes longer to drink. If you want to down it faster – to get your water intake over with – drink it at room temperature instead of icy cold.
Whether commuting, exercising, being sedentary, working, relaxing or socialising – in fact, pretty much every -ing, keep hydrated this spring – it can only be good for you.
Remember also to speak to us at AquAid for all your water requirements (we have something for all seasons). We offer a range of water dispensers: high volume watercoolers for children and staff at schools as well as a range of low, medium and high volume mainsfed or bottlefed watercoolers for use on building sites, at events and in warehouses, workspaces and offices nationwide.
by Fern Shaw | Feb 27, 2023 | water cooler, Water Coolers
There is a common misconception that wine, spirits and even beer, for example, contain no kilojoules and that this is reserved solely for food. Sadly, this is not the case.
So you may see a lot of people who will eat sparingly, but consume glassfuls of wine and spirits (and even beer) and wonder why they’re not losing weight.
Here are a few examples of wines vs. spirits in the kilojoules department:
- 225ml glass of white wine = 659 kilojoules
- 225ml glass of red wine = 641 kilojoules
- 225ml glass of full strength beer = 341 kilojoules
- 225ml glass of vodka (30ml tot) and soda = 266 kilojoules
- 225ml glass of gin (30ml) and tonic = 545 kilojoules
Two large glasses (450ml) of white wine (1 318 kJ) are equivalent to:
- Five chocolate chip biscuits – 1245 kJ
- Seven jelly snakes – 1 292 kJ
- Four medium apples – 1 354 kJ
- Twelve squares of milk chocolate – 1 350 kJ
- Five large, hard boiled eggs – 1 283 kJ
- Seven chicken nuggets – 1 353 kJ
- One toasted ham and cheese sandwich – 1 244 kJ
225ml glass of soda water = 0 kJ
225ml glass of water = 0 kJ
Although it’s doubtful that anyone would want to spend the rest of their weight conscious lives calculating kilojoule content per gram of lettuce or dollop of mayonnaise (lots!), hopefully these comparisons should give one pause when embarking on a liquid diet in the hopes of staving off the pounds from eating.
What we would suggest is rather chug-a-lug soda or spring water with your next packet of jelly snakes. Even better if you’re trying to shed weight is to keep your water glass or water bottle replenished and make frequent trips to the water cooler station throughout the day.
by Fern Shaw | Feb 23, 2023 | water cooler, Water Coolers
There’s no denying that the statistics speak volumes:
771 million people – 1 in 10 – lack access to safe water.* Millions of people take multiple trips each day to collect water. 282 million people spend more than 30 minutes each time. More specifically, women and children bear the primary responsibility for water collection. Women and girls spend 200 million hours every day collecting water. This is time not spent working, caring for family members, or attending school.
The ramifications of these stats and staggering amount of people affected can seem quite daunting in terms of how to address this global issue. The good news, though, is that there are multiple organisations that continue, year on year, to provide sustainable solutions to the lack of water and adequate sanitation to many thousands of people in hundreds of communities.
Sustainability may seem like the buzzword – bandied about without much meaning, but the truth of it is – sustainability is vital in the provision of water and sanitation to those for who access to water is an ongoing fight for actual survival.
There’s much truth in the adage, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime’, but before this philosophy can be realised, help is needed to provide water to communities that more often than not, do not have the most basic of infrastructures for a steady supply of water.
Sustainable water projects are those that include both short term and long-term solutions that pave the way forward by provide communities with convenient access to a constant supply of potable water and water for productive use every day.
That’s why, at AquAid Water Coolers we have, since our humble beginnings more than two decades ago, partnered with charities that not only provide emergency relief but also sustainable solutions to poverty around the globe, as is the case with Christian Aid and in the case of The Africa Trust, throughout Africa.
To learn more about the work that these organisations carry out, visit the AquAid website, and see how your water and water cooler purchases are making a visible difference to others.
*source: Water.org
