University of the West of England Trials New Water Fountains

UWE students can now fill reusable water bottles at bottle filler sites installed around campus. Assured of a fresh source of hygienic drinking water, they also save the cost of buying bottled water.

In our modern busy world, people are aware of the need to stay properly hydrated. Doctors advise that doing so helps prevent a wide range of diseases including diabetes and heart disease. Also properly hydrated people feel generally healthier and more alert.

This has fuelled a boom in the sales of bottled water; we drink 3 billion litres a year of it. And most of this is supplied in plastic bottles, around two thirds of which end up in landfill.

But this doesn’t need to be the case. There is a simple solution: reusable water bottles that you can fill up at a hygienic drinking water source such as a water fountain.

Many organisations are already providing their people with access to such facilities and others are planning to follow course. The University of the West of England recently fitted six Halsey Taylor sports bottle filling stations around their campus as an initial trial. This has proven to be a great success and the university is now planning to order more units.

Halsey Taylor bottle fillers are an example of one of the latest innovations from this USA based company, the world’s largest manufacturer of water coolers. Supplied by MIW Water Cooler Experts, these ‘new to the UK’ water fountains incorporate several features that should prove particularly attractive to university site managers and architects seeking a cost effective solution to providing free sources of drinking water.

Designed for universities, they may be used both indoors and outdoors, they are rugged and vandal resistant, once fitted there are no ongoing running costs, and outdoor models are freeze resistant. They are also Equality Act 2010 ADA Certified.