Nowadays, most people walk around with bottled water, because they think that designer water, such as imported French water or “fresh water from a fountain” is healthier than ordinary tap water. What is the situation in South Africa?

Most South African cities have tap water of a very high standard. We don’t need to buy bottled water, as is the case in many other countries. If you want the comfort of bottled water, you should get hold of a bottle that can be recycled and fill it with good, clean tap water. According to the Blue Drop Report recently published by the Department of Water Affairs (and confirmed by an independent audit of a regulator from England), South African tap water is of an outstanding quality (96% average). It is healthy, cheap and available in most urban households, and it may just become the next status symbol in a bottle!

• Did you know that one out of six people worldwide do not have access to clean tap water?
• Worldwide, the ecological impact of the bottled water industry is of great concern. In South Africa, approximately 77% of plastic bottles are not recycled. Four out of five plastic bottles can be found on rubbish dumps, where they take longer than a century to bio-degenerate.
• When bottled water is filtered, about seven litres of water is wasted for every three litres of bottled water.
• The human body consumes as much water while sleeping as during the time one is awake. That is why the first glass of water in the morning is so important.
• Water speeds up your metabolism, and if you drink more water, you will burn more kilojoules per hour. It satifies your appetite and helps you to eat less in between meals.
• If you don’t drink enough water, your body will become dehydrated. This will cause dizziness, nausea and confusion.
• One can also drink too much water at a time. This causes a condition called water intoxification, when the body’s sodium content becomes diluted.
• Do you still remember the popular SodaStream machines of the eighties that could be found in most middleclass South African homes? To this day, SodaStream still manufactures and distributes most of these types of household appliances, and they are very proud of their contribution to environmental conservation, as they provide an alternative to bottled fizzy drinks and soda water in plastic bottles

(translated from an article by Terésa Coetzee, Voorblad Rapport, 18 July 2010).