Bottled Water Sales Surge Despite Environmental Cost

The dependence on bottled water in the western world is becoming a big problem because of the environmental consequences of producing so much rubbish.

Although environmental awareness of the pitfalls of buying, and then quickly disposing of, so much plastic is increasing, so are sales of bottled water in the UK and USA.

According to market research by Zenith International, annual bottled water sales grew by 3% by the end of 2011. Meanwhile in the US total bottled water sales hit a record 9.1 billion gallons according to the Beverage Marketing Corp. That translates to a staggering four half litre bottles of water consumed by every American, every week.

Bottled water is bad for the environment but sales are surging.

2011 figures are the highest for bottled water sales in the US, with the industry booming at a rate that far outstrips the struggling economy. It also marks something of a resurgence for the bottled water industry which briefly went into decline four years ago, at the same time that the world went into recession.

Gary Hemphill, who is managing director for information services at Beverage Marketing, said: “Americans are drinking more bottled water because they find it convenient, appealing and healthy.”
He added: “Pricing in this category has been aggressive, which has helped.”

However those in the know are aware of the environmental costs of buying bottled water and it has become common for American colleges and universities to ban it on campus.

If you are worried about the quality of the UK water coming out of your taps, then have Aquatec install a home water purification system. Not only can you guarantee up to 98% purity in your drinking water (water so clean that even a new born baby could drink it), but you could save huge amounts of money over the years on what it would cost to buy bottled water regularly.

Save Water, Save Money – Why Water Leaks are Costing the Customer

In terms of our monthly water bills, most customers feel helpless to control their spend. Not only are the water bills fixed, but the water companies increase those bills on an annual basis.

Then, despite the fact that we have had to put up with constant downpours, there has been a hosepipe ban, and a nationwide alert, encouraging us to conserve water.

Water companies are passing their costs for wasting water onto the customer but you can reduce your energy bills with Aquatec water purification systems.

How can this bad weather be reconciled with a severe water shortage? The answer in short is mismanagement. An outdated infrastructure means that a quarter of our water supply is being wasted, but although the UK has been suffering from its worst drought in 25 years, the water companies are still not being forced to fix their leakages. In fact Ofwat data shows that water companies will only reduce their leaks by 1.5% in the run up to 2015.

Ofwat has said that water companies have paid £200m in water wastage fines over the past six years, though customers complain that they are simply passing the costs on as the water companies made £2bn profit in 2010-11.

So while we are left in a helpless situation where we cannot control the efficiency of our water company, there is a simple way to reduce your energy bills. Aquatec water purification systems have been proven to cut energy bills by up to 40%, by declogging your pipes and home appliances from harmful limescale.

This allows water to do more work for you, whether it is passing through your taps, your shower or your washing machine. Contact Aquatec today to book a free water test and see how we can make your water work harder in your home.

Torrential Rains Cause Sewage Overflows

The recent heavy UK rains are very welcome in a country which is experiencing a severe drought and hosepipe ban.

However, as well as generally spoiling the spring for many British residents, there are now serious dangers of water contamination as the deluge flushes raw sewage into rivers and coastal waters.

In the advent of torrential rain, sewers are actually designed to overflow into the sea and rivers as a backup, as this is preferable to overflowing into the streets.

Heavy rain can cause flash flooding and potential sewage overflows.

The problem, according to the Marine Conservation Society, is that only a quarter of the 31,000 combined sewage overflows in the UK are monitored to record how often they allow raw sewage to flow.

Rob Keirle, the pollution programme manager at the Marine Conservation Society, told the Guardian newspaper: “Some of the combined sewage overflows discharge dozens or hundreds of times a year. We
are calling for openness. Where are they? How often do they discharge? How much? There Environment Agency in England and Wales is reluctant to disclose this information, as they don’t like what it reveals.”

The Marine Conservation Society has also warned that anyone wanting to take a seasonal dip in the sea should be careful about getting in at the deep end. Flash foods are affecting the cleanliness of beaches and there are flood warnings in place over the weekend for many areas of the country.

They revealed that 30% of UK swimming beaches do not have pure water and would fail a water quality test. With a review of 750 beaches, the 2012 Good Beach Guide is now out. It reports that one third of beaches suffer from sewage contamination, dog waste and waste from streets or farms.

The north-west of England (20%) and Scotland (40%) had the fewest clean bathing spots but overall the percentage of clean beaches rose by 8%. Wales, the South West and the North East had the cleanest areas of coastline. Four fifths of beaches in those areas passed tests to show that they had not been contaminated with the bacteria from feces.

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said: “There are 15,000 CSOs in England and Wales and around half of these are monitored. Water companies carry out their own monitoring of approximately 6,000 CSOs for operational purposes and we are encouraging them to expand this. We have ordered additional monitoring and reporting at more than 800 CSOs, with a further 500 due to be monitored by 2015.”

If you are worried about the quality of water in your home, contact Aquatec Bristol today for a free water test. Our pure water consultants can recommend water purification systems or water filter purification that will suit your needs.

Fracking Threatens UK Water

Opponents of hydraulic fracturing have written into the Guardian to complain about fracking getting the ‘green light’ in the UK.

Having read the Guardian’s Gas Fracking gets the Green Light article which was published on April 17, 2012, Marion Watson of Sheffield wrote to say that: “It beggars belief that fracking is recommended to be extended and earthquakes are the only risks that are taken into account.”

While in the past the risks of fracking may only have been theoretical, they are now very much real as a number of rural areas in the US have had their water supplies contaminated by fracking.

Fracking threatens UK water

While fracking has helped the US to become almost self reliant in terms of producing its own energy, environmentalists wonder about the impact that this has on groundwater, in both the US and the
UK, where fracking is also becoming increasingly popular.

But there have been cases of people finding that the water from their kitchen tap is dangerous and unusable due to methane contamination (which also raises the risk of explosions in a kitchen).

And with Britain suffering from a drought, can we risk polluting what remaining sources of water we have? In the hydraulic fracturing process around 2-3m gallons of water are used for each well, which can be fracked up to 18 times.

Furthermore fracking has an aesthetic consideration as it would involve numerous well heads spread out over the gas fields which, unlike wind turbines, carry the risk of toxic emissions.

If you are worried about the quality of your drinking water, why not purchase a home water purification system from Aquatec Bristol? Our pure water consultants have over 18 years experience in the field and we can guarantee up to 98% purity in your drinking water, creating water so pure that even a new born baby could drink it. Contact us today and we will call you back.

Water Meters for UK Homes

With the news that water suppliers will be installing water meters in UK homes to monitor water usage and prevent droughts, we will all have to get smarter with our water usage.

Thames Water has stated that it plans to install meters in 85,000 British homes by 2015, which will help residents to comply with hosepipe bans and identify anyone who is breaking the laws.

A spokesman for Ofwat, the water regulator, said: “The water sector in England and Wales is actively considering the potential for smart metering. We are especially interested in the opportunity for water to share communications infrastructure with the energy sector.”

Water meters are proposed to combat the UK Drought.

It is strange to imagine that Britain could ever have a drought considering how much rain we get. However, not only do we have an outdated water infrastructure which fails to retain rain adequately, but we consume vast quantities of water every day.

Currently seven water companies in the south and east of England have hosepipe bans and despite the recent wet weather the drought is expected to last unfor the rest of the year. As a result Thames Water has started trialling the water smart meters in London and Reading.

America has also suffered from water shortages caused by excessive demand and is already using the water meter technology across its 50 states. It works via an electrical transmitter which informs both the homeowner and the water company of the latest water readings.

However, if you want to lower your energy costs and save money on your water bills, there is another smart way. The water purification systems sold by Aquatec Bristol have been proven to reduce energy costs by 40% and stop your hard earned money going down the drain. As the water meters will cost up to £250 to install, which will be paid by the customer in their water bills, why not save yourself money in the long run by purchasing a water purification system?

UNICEF Tap Water Purification Scheme

Many of us take our access to pure water for granted, even in spite of the recent drought that has affected the south east of England.

However contaminated drinking water is a serious global problem which accounts for the death of thousands of children every day. It is a frightening statistic when you realise than approximately half of the world’s population does not have access to clean drinking water.

A number of initiatives are run to improve worldwide access to clean water including the UNICEF tap water project which encourages restaurants to raise money for water purification projects by levying a small charge on glasses of tap water with each meal. It sounds small but for just $1 you can ensure that a child has access to clean drinking water for 40 days.

There are not many worthier causes, access to clean water is a basic human right and lack of access is the root cause for many of the world’s problems including ill health and disease.

While we do what we can to ensure a better quality of life for less fortunate individuals around the world, the ability to have clean drinking water in our own homes is in our own hands. The Aquatec water purification system purifies drinking water to 98% purity, and provides water so pure that even a new born baby could drink it. So why not call us out for a free water test today and wrap a ring of protection around you and your family?

Guarantee the Purity of your Water

UK homeowners are increasingly choosing water purification to guarantee the purity of their water.

There are a number of different ways to control the quality of your water, including softening the water to prevent limescale and removing contaminants and minerals.

There are four main methods of purifying water – Reverse Osmosis, Microfiltration, using an Activated Carbon Filter and Distillation.
• Microfiltration can be used to remove some bacteria and large pathogens, but not all of them.
• Activated carbon filtration reduces unwanted taste, odour and low concentrations of organic chemicals.
• Reverse osmosis is best known for its use in water desalinization projects, and can also reduce chemicals associated with unwanted colour and taste.
• Distillation effectively removes inorganic contaminants from water. Since distilled water has no minerals, some people claim that distilled water has a sweet or ‘flat’ taste.

However at Aquatec we use a unique process to filter the incoming mains water supply at a micron level to remove all of the larger particles of dirt and heavy metals.
Our advanced electrolytic media nano scale formulation uses redox (reduction/oxidation) to remove 98% of all harmful organic and inorganic compounds including chlorine, lead, mercury, iron and hydrogen sulphide.

But this is just one of eight stages which make sure that your water is completely pure by the time that it gets into your glass.

Once it has gone through an intensive water purification process. At stage 8 this includes the drinking water post filter media which removes any unwanted tastes and odours to produce purified water.

Finally Aquatec water purification systems have health benefits because they put back in the naturally occurring electrolytes that other systems remove. To guarantee the purity of your home water supply contact Aquatec Bristol today and book your free water quality test.