Water, water everywhere - and YES there’s drops to drink

I don’t have access to the 2018 figures as yet, but did you know that during 2017 Jersey exported 103 tonnes of plastic bottles for recycling! That sounds amazing...... until you realize that this represented only 6% of the plastic bottles actually imported into Jersey in the first place.  Some 32,273,333 plastic bottles weren’t recycled but used as fodder for the Energy for Waste plant.  Let me just say that one more time - over thirty two million plastic bottles not recycled in Jersey.I often wonder how many of those 34+ million plastic bottles imported into the island were made up of bottled water. In every supermarket you go into there are shelves upon shelves of different shapes, sizes and flavors of water.  It’s a growing market.  According to Zenith Global’s UK Plain Bottled Water Report 2019 the 2018 UK heatwave caused an increase in consumption of plain bottled water, an increase of more than 7%, to reach 4,267 million litres of water with a value of £3.3 billion.  This years hottest July ever recorded will, I suspect, increase this even further.But how many people stop to think about the environmental footprint of bottled water against locally provided tap water?  The manufacturing process of creating a one litre bottle of water uses 3 times the amount of water than is actually in the bottle 😳; the water used in this process is then unusable because of the chemicals used to make the plastic bottle; the bottles are made from a finite, non-renewable resource (oil); 22% of water sold in the UK is sourced from overseas; even UK water will have travelled hundreds of miles to reach Jersey.By using less bottled water, Islanders can help to cut carbon emissions associated with its production, storage, transportation and disposal.https://youtu.be/Se12y9hSOM0 It got got me thinking about why people continue to buy bottled water.  Is it convenience, taste, availability, preference or need?  1millionwomen believe that it is simply effective marketing, that bottled water is marketed to us as cleaner, healthier, crispier and tastier than regular tap water.  All of these traits, except for perhaps taste, are constructed by marketing teams to sell a product that few people actually need.  And taste is a big issue in Jersey, users have a love/hate relationship with the taste of local water especially in the summer when there are occasional complaints of a chlorine smell in the water.   Chlorine is used in the treatment of water to clean it and to kill off bacteria, and a small quantity remains to ensure it stays clean through the pipe work to your tap.  The quick win for overcoming the taste and smell of chlorine is to pop it in the fridge to cool before drinking.  I use a Brita water jug - because the water filters are 100% recyclable and we have a collection point at the La Collette Reuse and Recycling CentreOver the last year we have seen a tidal wave of recognition of the pollution and destruction that we are wreaking on our living planet, mainly focusing on the plastic pollution issues - thanks to the work of David Attenborough with Blue Planet , BBC’s War on Plastic, Sky’s Ocean Rescue, Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Communities and our very own Plastic Free Jersey. Plastic pollution is of course just one part of the global Climate Emergency that we find ourselves in.  Our environmental consciousness is probably at it’s highest point, and luckily plastic pollution is a very quick win - we can just stop using single-use plastics in our throw-away culture.  We’re not talking single-use plastics used in the medical industry here, we need to focus on unnecessary food and drink packaging made of finite resources whose very extraction, manufacture and transportation are having a direct effect on the environment.But what about those times when you need a drink of water, but aren’t necessarily at home next to the tap?   Or when you are out for a run or a cycle and cannot physically carry the amount of water you need. Or you have simply forgotten to bring some?  The important thing is to stay hydrated - but what if it was simply a case of popping into a local business and asking for some tap water?  Our reserved British culture stops many people from even asking, making us more likely to buy bottled water.Help is on hand! Jersey Water , Plastic Free Jersey and Eco-Active have joined forces to launch the Refill app here in Jersey.As Jersey’s only supplier of treated mains water, Jersey Water is highly conscious of its responsibility to the environment. The company supports initiatives that encourage Islanders to consume more water without the environmental impact of single-use containers.  During 2018 Jersey Water provided more than 70,000 litres of water via bulk water containers to local charity fund-raising events free of charge, including the Jersey Boat Show, Jersey Marathon, The Island walk, Out there and the Weekender festivals.  Jersey Water also promotes the aqKWa savings engine through their website - a simple way to help reduce your water consumption and save on your water bills.The Refill app encourages behavioral change by urging people to ask for tap-water refills instead of resorting to purchased bottled water.  Refill is the UK’s leading ‘app for tap’ that enables people to find shops and businesses where they can refill with free tap water on the go. Supported by the UK water industry utilities including Jersey Water and Guernsey Water, over 22,000 businesses have joined the campaign to reduce single-use plastic bottles! How amazing is that? And now it’s Jersey chance to really get involved.As a potential user all you need to do is download the Refill app, register (with your location) and your phone geolocator will show you where your nearest Refill points are.  Here is an easy link to find your way - https://refill.org.uk/get-the-refill-app/But this is where we need some help!  There are currently only 16 Refill points showing for Jersey, made up of the Liberation Group and Costa Coffee franchises - but we know that many more organizations offer free tap-water refills, or would be willing to offer it.Are you a local organization - a cafe, restaurant, library, public building or community space with a publicly accessible tap (or you are happy to fill for visitors) then all you need to do is register and give a few details to Refill and they will create a free profile on the map.   They will send you out a pack, which includes  stickers to place in the window of your premises to let people know that you are a Refill point, and also offer a host of online resources to help you market Refill.The perks of being a Refill point are increased footfall, increased corporate social responsibility by helping to save our living planet and getting involved in our local community.See this link for more information - https://refill.org.uk/add-refill-station/Have you #gotthebottle to keep our beautiful island and beaches Plastic Free?Please do download the Refill app, spread the word to businesses and to users - and lets get as many people as possible away from single use bottles of water!With thanks to Jersey Water for sponsoring the Refill App in Jersey 💚