Is your water costing the earth?

More than two billion litres of bottled water are consumed in the UK each year. Although this figure is now in decline, it is still more than double the quantity consumed ten years ago and more than one hundred times our consumption in 1976. Almost all of this water is supplied in plastic bottles, the manufacture and disposal of which causes major environmental impact. The distribution and storage of these bottles also contributes to the carbon footprint of this major UK industry, worth nearly £1.5bn per annum. By exploring each of these issues in turn, the extent of this environmental problem can be examined.

Most water bottles are made from PET plastic which is derived from non-renewable crude oil. In fact, globally, the manufacture of PET accounts for about 0.25 percent of the world’s annual crude oil consumption. Further energy, usually from non-renewable sources such as coal or gas, is consumed during the manufacture of the bottles themselves and additional carbon dioxide is produced. The bottling process itself will similarly also use energy and produce greenhouse gases.

Once the water has been bottled there will be further transportation involved, usually by road, to the point of distribution and (probably) again to the point of sale and further to the point of consumption. These transport costs not only have to be paid for financially in the price of the end product but also in terms of their environmental impact and infrastructure congestion.

If an organisation has elected to purchase and supply bottled water then provision must be made for its delivery, storage and internal distribution. It is likely that staff will prefer chilled water so some refrigeration will certainly be required. All these factors have some energy and carbon implications.

Once the water has been consumed, the bottles themselves need to be disposed of. Re-use is not an option, so recycling is the preferred solution. However, it is estimated that only 10 percent of bottles are recycled, meaning the remaining 90 percent will inevitably end up in land-fill or incinerators. And recycling has its own environmental impact; more than half of the bottles recycled in the UK are shipped to China for processing – a journey of 13,000 kilometres that produces more than 500 tonnes of CO2.

Recycling also has a significant direct cost impact for organisations. Not only do systems need to be in place to facilitate the process, but there is also substantial cost involved in sorting, storing and removing the recycled materials.

The supply of water in plastic bottles also raises some health concerns. Research indicates that when bottled water cycles through a range of temperatures, toxic chemicals, including carcinogens thought to be responsible for breast cancer, can leach from the bottle into the water itself. Clearly this is a concern for human health and wellbeing. Whilst careful storage at point of use may prevent the temperature fluctuations, it cannot be certain how carefully the water has been stored between the point of bottling and consumption.

For corporations the management of bottled drinking water creates logistical and administrative burdens on the organisation. Space is required to manage the arrival, storage and distribution of the water. In addition, purchasing and supply contracts need to be negotiated and organised. These factors have significant associated costs – not only with the additional real estate required but also the personnel needed to manage and organise the processes.
So facilities and estate managers in the UK face some significant and challenging issues when considering the different ways of providing their staff with drinking water. The detrimental global environmental costs associated with bottled water will clearly be a consideration. More immediately relevant, however, will be the organisation’s own energy costs, administration costs and environmental objectives. All companies are now under pressure to attain ISO14001 to improve their carbon footprint and to be mindful of their own Corporate Social Responsibilities. Other legal obligations may also be relevant; the walk-in cold-rooms and many small refrigerators used to store bottled water must be correctly dealt with under the WEEE directive, and the refrigerant contained within them properly handled.

Organisations will also want to gain from the benefits of having well-hydrated and healthy employees. To ensure a high level of take-up the chosen method of water delivery must be professional, attractive, convenient and simple to use. The solution ought to take into account the perceived consumer preference for well-presented, chilled water with still or sparkling choices.

There is one alternative to bottled water usage that provides a solution that addresses environmental, health, financial and administrative concerns by taking advantage of an infrastructure that already exists in all establishments – a mains-fed drinking water supply. The Pure Water Company offers bespoke solutions which can be tailored to suit each organisation using standard system building blocks.

The Pure Water Company has been supplying such systems to corporate clients, public sector organisations, sporting venues, hotels, restaurants and health clubs since 1991 in Europe, and since 1997 in the UK. A Pure Water Link-Line system uses a central filtration and cooling unit to supply multiple dispensing points throughout a building, delivering chilled still and sparkling water via insulated pipe-work anywhere on the premises. The central unit can be situated unobtrusively in a plant-room for ease of servicing and maintenance.

The water outlets, situated throughout the building, can supply drinking water for different uses throughout a building. Eye-catching water points can be conveniently situated for employees to fill bottles and glasses, and canteen dispense points can be provided for food service, catering and hospitality support – all supplied from the same central unit. Alternatively, bespoke free-standing bottling or point-of-use systems can be provided. When bottles are required to be filled – for meetings, conferences and hospitality – these are reusable glass and branded if desired, allowing a strong corporate message to be presented at all times to staff and visitors.

The system saves space because there is only one central filter/chiller instead of multiple coolers situated throughout the building. Similarly there is none of the ordering, storage, handling and distribution associated with bottled water. Nor is there any requirement for the disposal or recycling of plastic bottles after use. Environmentally, the solution would appear to make sense not only for the corporation’s own credentials but also in relation to the contribution it can make to help solve the global issue. If these reasons were not compelling enough then the fact that an organisation can save between 40 percent and 80 percent of their bottle water costs by specifying such a system should be a convincing argument.

Some simple figures can be used to show typical cost savings. Take for example an organisation that uses 10,000 litres of drinking water per year. The buying price of bottled water varies widely but recent evidence shows that a well-negotiated contract caterer rate may be as low as 42p per litre. Ignoring the additional energy, environmental and administrative factors then the total cost for the year will be £4,200. Given this rate of usage a Pure Water independent bottling system can be operated for in the region of £1,500 per annum, saving £2,700 every year. This saves about 65 percent of the cost of using bottled water. This figure similarly ignores the small energy costs incurred for running the system, whilst the cost of the mains water itself is negligible (typically less than 0.02p per litre).
At higher usage levels the savings are even more dramatic – an organisation that uses 100,000 litres of water annually makes cost savings of as much as £37,000 per year when using a Pure Water system in place of bottled water.

The Pure Water system has no up-front costs associated with its installation. This is because the system is effectively rented over five years at a fixed cost that includes; the installation of the system; the cost of the equipment; full service and maintenance cover; filtration consumables; and a water testing service if required.

Contact Mark Pitt, Sales Director at The Pure Water Company, Tel: 01494 730622 or visit purewaterco.com