Over-enthusastic chlorine filtration kills hotel visitor

Whole house chlorine filtration sounds a great way to get rid of the nasty-tasting chlorine: by removing the chlorine from the mains water supply as it enters the property, not only can you drink the water from any tap, but also all baths and showers don't give off that 'swimming-pool' smell of chlorine given off as you bathe and can help reduce skin irritation.

As I said, sounds great, but what are the potential pitfalls? Well, the reason we have a chlorinated mains water supply is that chlorine treatment helps prevent cholera, Legionnaire's disease and other horrible water-borne bacteria. The chlorine is present to help deliver safe drinkable water to our taps - it's like the plastic bag a loaf of bread comes in. The plastic bag helps keep the bread fresh on the shop's shelf, protects it as we carry it home, and helps preserve its freshness further at home as we eat it - but we don't eat the plastic bag. Chlorine in mains water is necessary for safe delivery to our taps, but we don't need to drink it...

So what went wrong at that hotel in Miami where the chlorine-treatment system installed has been blamed on the death of one tourist and the sickness of more? Well, it seems that Legionella bacteria was able to grow in the hotel's water supply, so that some guests contracted Legionnaire's disease, a rare form of pneumonia caught by contaminated water droplets entering the lungs which can be fatal in up to 1/3 of sufferers. The water droplets enter the lungs usually from drinking liquid (tap water) or inhaling water vapour water during a bath or shower. The hotel installed the system to enhance the quality of its drinking water for guests, but the mistake was that the system was too good at its job and heavily de-chlorinated water was allowed to stand in the waterpipes serving the hotel, giving bacteria chance to colonise.

The best way to dechlorinate tap water is to have a filter fitted just before it exits the tap or showerhead so the water pipes in a property only have chlorinated water standing in them and bacteria won't accumulate. Certainly, large buildings that may maintain a cold water header tank should not have a whole-house filtration system, as the bacteria would be very happy in such tanks - and human users would suffer the consequences. Through careful design and siting of tap water filtration systems, these remain the most economic, healthiest and greenest form of delivering pleasant drinking water to users compared to bottled water systems.

The Just Water Now mains-water filtration products are fitted at the 'point-of-use', just where the water is drawn off by a user, so that there is minimal chance of contamination. e.g the JWN Unit Filter is a simple cold-water filtration system that fits existing taps. We also ensure that a non-return valve is fitted to prevent backflow of dechlorinated water back into the distribution pipes if a fault developed.


Visit www.justwaternow.com to find out more.

My thanks to Bill Burton for the 'loaf of bread' analogy.

When water runs out...

A report published this month on global water resources makes for bleak reading. We already have a shortfall: 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean water and in 20 years, water demand will be 40% higher than it is today. Augmenting existing supplies will not be sufficient, instead we need to focus on reducing the water-intensity of the economy. Drought-resistent crops should help to reduce water demand in agriculture that uses around 70% of supplies today.
Reducing industrial and domestic demand will assist water management to a lesser extent. But questions do need to be asked about whether we need clean water for swimming pools and washing the car when we cannot supply people with drinking water...

Water shortages in Harare, Zimbabwe are raising fears of a new cholera outbreak after electric power failures that are affecting the water treatment system. Residents in some suburbs without running water for a week are being forced to draw water from shallow wells.

It's not just in the developing world that there is a shortage of water; California has been troubled by shortages for decades. This summer and autumn, the water main breakages have been unprecedented, especially in Los Angeles. It now appears that an unusually full reservoir put too much pressure on the old corroding cast-iron water pipes serving the city. However, Southern California may be getting a major new source of fresh water: a massive sea-water desalination plant is being proposed at Carlsbad, next to the Encina power station, to produce enough water annually for 100,000 households in San Diego County. The cost of the project? Around £200 million in subsidies and £300 million in bonds. So it's easy to see why water conservation is cheaper than producing alternative water sources.

Water is fast moving up the political agenda in the US as more states struggle to deal with dwindling supplies and increasing demand. A quarter of the state of Texas is currently in some stage of drought: state officials are attempting to implement a raft of programmes to provide drought-proof water supplies that will provide water to residents, industry, agriculture and allow the power plants to keep running.

Drought is a frequent visitor to Australia. Unfortunately, Docker River township in the Northern Territory has another visitor as a result: a herd of 6000 feral camels is laying siege to the remote town, smashing water mains, water tanks, fences and approaching houses as they seek to relieve their thirst. The camels have also blocked the airstrip preventing medical evacuations and as more converge there daily, they are contaminating what water supplies are left. The local council is now looking to cull the animals in an attempt to regain control as residents are too scared to venture outdoors. Australia is home to the largest herd of feral camels in the world, around a million animals that have few natural predators and are also threatening fragile desert ecosystems. Lets hope they don't all decide to head for Docker River...

For a taste that's out of this world: moon water may one day be on tap

So the Man in the Moon has water to wash down his cheese...

After the damp squib of the moon-crash on 9th October, the data have now been more closely examined and there is water on the moon. Water exists within the permanently-shadowed lunar craters of the southern pole and the deliberate crash kicked up ~100kg of ice and vapour within the mile-high plume of debris. Whilst that won't satisfy the thirst of a team of astronauts, let alone the population of of a permanent lunar outpost, it does indicate that there may be reserves at the southern pole that can be plumbed for human use. There's no evidence of whether it would be drinkable, so we won't be holding our breath for "Moon Water" appearing in our Supermarkets just yet. It might be combined with contaminants that require complex purifcation systems to release the water - it's unlikely that simple filtration will do the job.

Whilst still in office, George W. Bush had wanted a $100billion+ plan to return to the moon that would then stretch on to Mars. Barak Obama is hedging his bets: appointing a special panel of experts to examine the entire moon exploration programme. In September, tiny amounts of water were found in the lunar soil all over the surface of the moon. However, the October 9th mission is a strong confirmation that may help tip the balance of Obama's decision-making process.

Whilst waiting for your trip to the moon, you can visit Just Water Now's website at www.juswaternow.com for our range of water-filtration products that will make your tap water taste out of this world!

Space, the final frontier? or just a new low...

Last month, water conservation reached the final frontier. Billionaire Guy Laliberte, the founder of the Cirque du Soliel, broadcast to the world from the International Space Station via a satellite video link to promote clean drinking water. "Everytime I look down at this fantastic planet... it looks so fragile," he said. He also tried to gulp down a drop of water floating in the zero-gravity atmosphere of the ISS where urine is recycled into drinking water, a technology that may someday be necessary down here on terra firma to overcome the water crisis that experts predict will strike in the next 25-50 years.

"All for water, water for all," was Laliberte's cry. Clowning around with water it may be: the cost of his trip was $35 million, and some critics suggested that the money would have been better spent digging wells in Africa. Laliberte's broadcasts were linked to a 2-hour 14-city worldwide extravaganza here on Earth with celebrity guests that included Al Gore, Bono, Peter Gabriel. This certainly highlights water conservation issues in a new way.

In a related water-in-Space topic, NASA crashed a rocket into the Moon's south pole hoping to find water in the impact debris. Spectacular idea - just the photos were a bit boring. The point of it all? If we want to colonise the Moon or other planet, we need drinking water - and not just recycled from our pee. Water would also have other uses, as a radiation shield (!) and when broken down into its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen, for humans to breathe and use for energy: fuel cells and rocket propellant. There have also been tell-tale signs of water on Mars - the Red Planet has long been a favorite of Sci-Fi enthusiasts for a colonisation. Not so much little green men as little green chips of ice in craters...

The European Space Agency is to launch a new satellite (how many are up there??) to follow the Earth's water cycle and its constant flux. Yawn? Maybe not. It is to characterise global changes in soil moisture as well as the salinity of seawater - yep, it will track the drinkable water that we need, leading to improvements in climate models. In turn, these will help water management programmes focused on agricultural and drinking water activities.

In another water-related stunt last month, the Maldives Government 'sank to a new low'. The president and his ministers donned wetsuits and scuba gear, used sign language and waterproof documents to conduct affairs of state for 1/2 hour on the sea floor, 20ft beneath the waves. Rising sea levels threathen to submerge the Maldives in the Indian Ocean within a century, robbing celebrities and other monied tourists of a favoured vacation spot...not to mention the locals' homes.

Bottled water banned in Australian town

A small New South Wales town has banned the sale of bottled water - the first in the world? Bundanoon residents voted 3 months ago for the ban and now have properly implemented it. Chilled filtered water dispensers can be found around the town and bottles of still water have been replaced in shops by reusable containers. Consumers can buy the bottles and refill them from the store or at a streetside drinking fountain.

Why has Bundanoon gone this far? Cost is one reason given, but it seems that the environmental impact of manufacture, transport and disposal of bottled water was unjustified especially when a bottling company decided they wanted to extract water from the local area, truck it to Sydney, bottle it and then redistribute it back to the Bundanoon area! Locals are delighted and shopkeepers relieved that the publicity has boosted sales of the "Bundy on tap"-labelled containers so that they are not missing out on valuable revenue.

At the same time, the Murray River in South Australia has saline levels approaching dangerous proportions for use as drinking water.
Receding water levels in the river and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert appear responsible for the rise in salinity. Emergency plans have also been prepared for the distribution of free bottled water to the 30,000 residents of South Australian towns who could be affected. Each resident would require 4 litres of drinking water per day. If the water remains unacceptably salty for more than a week, water would be tankered in. The nearby city of Adelaide is also in the firing line - the city of possibly only one year away from depletion of its reservoirs - that's around 1.3 million residents affected.

Here in the UK, we are not in such dire straits but we need to heed the warnings from the drier parts of the world. To this end, the Government has just launched a £1 million campaign to promote household water saving. We are being encouraged to reduce our average water use from 150 litres per day to 130 litres a day. Southerners the worst offenders - all those power showers, sprinklers, swimming pools and hot tubs apparently...

London is set to install water fountains in Hammersmith Bus Station and Tower Bridge Museum so that the 400,000 visitors who pass through these sites each year can fill bottles with up to 500ml chilled water for 20p. More fountains across the city are to come if the pilot proves a success. So it appears that Thames Water is going to help London Mayor Boris Johnson to fulfil his pledge of green alternatives to bottled water throughout the city; the Mayor has only managed one water fountain to date - in Hyde Park last week!
All nicely in time for the 2012 Olympics that organisers want to present as the Green Olympics.

'Please Do Not Hesitate to Contact Me'

Quality of water and quality of service
In an age of unparalleled communication, disatisfied customers can really get their complaint out where it can receive alot of attention. With email, Twitter, Blogs and so on, the ripples in the water can rapidly become a tidal wave of opinion. The recent blog titled as above about a particular water cooler company has been so widely circulated, it has become a major source of embarrassment and unfortunately can unfairly taint all companies in the same industry.

The water cooler industry has been hard-hit by the recession, as customers turned away from bottled water and went back to tap water. The bottle-fed cooler has been designated a 'luxury' and so has been a particular victim of cost-cutting exercises. Mains-fed water coolers have not suffered so much, but new business was slow for most of the year. The positive signs of economic upturn in the UK will generate new business for the industry, but bad publicity lingers for long afterwards. A reputation for good/bad customer service is going to affect business. A good point to make here regarding a key difference between bottle-fed coolers and main-fed systems is: mains-fed coolers require far less maintenance than bottle-fed coolers and of course no deliveries. There is therefore less reliance on the supplier and less pressure on the fewer business operations required, so hopefully less opportunity for customer service to go awry.

Most businesses wouldn't operate without customers and even the best of organisations can get it wrong occassionally. So providing customers with a prompt and effective service is essential. But how to stand out from the crowd? How can a business prove that its customer service is superior? Or even that it has a functioning service that can deal with problems?

At Just Water Now, we have taken a pro-active approach to quality: we do care and do strive to improve every aspect of our services, not just complaints. How? By developing our Quality Management Policy and then putting in place systems that effectively monitor and improve quality throughout all our business operations. The whole process is under constant review to ensure that our operations actually match our policy! Every one of our operations is reported on and additional spot-checks are made from time to time. The two sets of data are then regularly audited and the results discussed at team meetings. We have found that this is the only way forward for improvement to be quantified rather than just guessed at. Customer feedback is essential for our policy to function and maintain our standards. We appreciate all feedback, both positive and negative, and we remain proactive in soliciting opinion on our service through our questionnaires and occassional follow-up phone calls. It's all a delicate balancing act, but essential to keep our customers and staff happy.

Are YOU taking up the Volvic 14-day Challenge?

This year, the makers of Volvic bottled water launched the 14-day challenge to encourage people to drink water to hydrate their bodies and minds.

By drinking 1.5L a day of Volvic, will you feel better?
Yes! Of course you would - it's the classic start of a detox diet, the path to better digestion and clearer skin.

A great idea, but a cynic might just see it as a ploy to shift more bottles of water at a time when 'luxuries' are still being cut back to help people manage during the recession.

Really, any water will do to improve health and well-being: bottled water or tap water. Cost and convenience are the key drivers to what people will drink. So the choice is yours...

Visit www.justwaternow.com to look at your options for filtering tap water and save on those plastic bottles.