by Fern Shaw | Mar 17, 2014 | Charity, Guest Blog, Water, water cooler, Water Coolers
Help in Hearing, an independent, family-run business in Buckinghamshire, have assisted countless people with their hearing over the past 14 years.
They offer a variety of services from a free hearing test at their hearing clinics as well as a free online hearing test to many hearing-related issues.
They also believe in extending their values through to their Corporate Social Responsibility and through their contract with AquAid in having water coolers, have been donating monthly to The Africa Trust.
In doing so, these donations to The Africa Trust have been used to build fresh drinking water wells in areas in Africa where it is needed most, like in schools and villages.
As a result of these donations, Help in Hearing will be having its very own Elephant Pump built in Africa.
The Elephant Pump is a water well that is a modified version of an age-old Chinese rope pulley system and it is built with the assistance of the people of the area who are then taught how it works and how to repair it using local materials and parts.
This is essential to ensure clean and safe water is part of their daily lives.
We, at AquAid, are looking forward to being able to present Help in Hearing with photos of their very own well in the near future.
by Fern Shaw | Jan 21, 2014 | Health and Hydration, Water
Colour me amazed! I was watching a programme and this info blurb popped up. One of those ‘Did you know?’ thingies. It said that penguins can convert salt water to fresh water.
This led to some serious research – ‘just imagine,’ thought I, ‘there are sufficient penguins that each water drinking person could have their very own penguin water cooler + penguins are rather terrific and always sufficiently well dressed for a night on the town’- bonus!
The facts:
The supraorbital gland is a type of lateral nasal gland found in penguins, which removes sodium chloride from the bloodstream. The gland’s function is similar to that of the kidneys, though it is much more efficient at removing salt, allowing penguins to survive without access to fresh water. Contrary to popular belief, the gland does not directly convert saltwater to freshwater.
Living in saltwater environments would naturally pose a large problem for penguins because the ingestion of saltwater would be detrimental to a penguin’s health. Although penguins do not directly drink water, it is taken in when they engulf prey. As a result, saltwater enters their system and must be effectively excreted. The supraorbital gland has thus enabled the penguins’ survival in such environments due to its water-filtering capability. The penguin excretes the salt by-product as a brine through its bill.
Right then, so perhaps not your very own penguin water cooler, but what about your very own brine producer? No?
Oh, alright then! As you can see from the photo on the right, my pitch to the penguins was not well received – they left in rather a hurry.
As it turns out, there are two bits of good news stemming from this blog.
1) Hopefully you’ve learnt something new (I most certainly have) about nature and the animals in it and;
2) although, sadly, you can’t have your very own penguin water cooler converter you can, of course, contact AquAid for any super-duper water cooler requirements.
Our water coolers don’t smell of fish and don’t leave guano all over your workspace. Bonus.
by Fern Shaw | Jan 16, 2014 | Health and Hydration
Water Cooler Tales – Volume I
The primary difference between distilled water and spring water is the purification process, though there may also be differences when it comes to where the water comes from or how it is processed. In general, spring water has been pumped from a natural spring, and usually contains a number of minerals. Manufactures filter it for impurities like dirt and bacteria, but typically leave the minerals and other naturally occurring elements in to improve the overall taste. Distilled water, on the other hand, is boiled for so long that the water molecules become vapour, essentially shedding both impurities and minerals. The result is a very pure product that contains basically nothing but hydrogen and oxygen.
People can typically drink both versions, though distilled water is not usually designed for hydration. While spring water is often marketed as a natural way to hydrate the body, distilled versions are more commonly used in settings that requite ultra-pure water, like heavy industry or scientific labs. It may also be recommended for use in household appliances since the lack of minerals means there won’t usually be any build-up over time.
Lack of Minerals
Distilled water has had all of the naturally occurring minerals in tap or well water removed. If you only drink distilled water, you may not consume enough of the minerals present in tap water, such as magnesium or calcium, according to the World Health Organization. Consistently drinking distilled water may cause deficiency in one of the 14 micronutrients WHO identifies as necessary for your health.
Sourcing
One of the first things to think about when discussing distilled water and spring water is where each comes from. Spring water originates in natural ‘springs’, which are fresh water pools and streams that come from underground aquifers and are present in varying sizes in most parts of the world. Some springs are more renowned than others for their drinking water, and the mineral content can vary dramatically from place to place.
Distilled water might come from a spring, but it could just as easily come from a river, a reservoir, or even the ocean. Where distillation is concerned, the process is much more important than the source.
In the next volume, we’ll talk about further differences between spring water and distilled water and best uses for both.
by Fern Shaw | Jan 16, 2014 | Health and Hydration
I’ve schlubbed my way in from my ‘olidays and am gearing myself up for the AquAid Drink Water Daily Challenge and all of a sardine, it strikes me – what am I going to be drinking out of? I can’t just drink out of any old thing (actually I can, but being a tactile sensitive person, I’m fussy – deal with it), I need something that screams (softly) ‘DRINK FROM ME BECAUSE I’M JUST TOO GORGEOUS NOT TO’ or something thereabouts.
Bearing in mind that despite what the head honcho’s would like, I’m not chained to my desk 24/7, which means that during the hours I’m not in the office drinking from our water cooler, I’m going to need an alternative, thus the great internet search commenced. Great galloping grannies did I come across some doozies, as you will see from the images.
I’m very into glass containers at present; however, I doubt it’s very practical lugging an unusual glass water bottle like the one pictured above just to gain some style cred. Uh-uh.
I did quite like the ‘wrist-bottle’, but being rather co-ordination challenged, it’s likely that seventy percent of the water would end up splashed all over my keyboard, which would pretty much defeat the object of the keeping well hydrated part of the challenge.
Rather like, ‘What differences are noticeable after four weeks of three litres per day?’
‘Well, nothing noticeable on me, mate, but my keyboard’s sprouted a few potatoes’…
I also came across this rather ‘take me to your leader’ type container, very reminiscent of the green creatures from Toy Story, but common sense prevailed, as I’d probably spend more time playing with the water bottle than actually drinking from it.
After exhaustive research, I decided that I’d just use my plain Jane, weather beaten water bottle, because the focus here is drinking the water and seeing the result and not how ‘stylish’ I look while drinking the water.
I have had a little word with the office though and asked them if I can decant the water from the water cooler for after hours, to which they agreed. Good for me! (Initially I did ask if I could borrow the water cooler bottle, but that didn’t get the desired response.)
If you’d like more information about what the AquAid Drink Water Daily Challenge is all about, drop us a line or telephone our HQ, we’d love for you to participate with us – the results can only be good!
by Fern Shaw | Dec 18, 2013 | Health and Hydration
Many people mistakenly believe that wine, spirits and even beer, for example, contain no kilojoules and that this is reserved solely for food. Not true according to the below comparisons.
So you may see a lot of people who will eat sparingly, but sip away at the 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
Doubtful though that anyone would want to spend the rest of their weight conscious lives calculating kilojoule content per mm of lettuce or dollop of mayonnaise (lots!), however these comparisons should give one pause when embarking on a liquid diet in the hopes of staving off the pounds from eating.
Rather chug-a-lug the soda or spring water with your next packet of jelly snakes. J
And if you don’t already have a water cooler in your office, speak nicely to the office manager and perhaps they’ll get one in for you (ask them to speak to us to arrange this). Then you can chug-a-lug as much water as you like!
Perhaps you can even join us in our Drink Water Daily Challenge and really see the results. We’d love to have you on board with us.
