There are certain times when a cool drink of water shifts from being a nice addition to your day to being an absolute necessity. As a patient in a hospital, for example, countless studies have shown how poor hydration can adversely affect an already immunocompromised individual. This makes access to readily available, clean water even more vital.
Likewise, a number of reports have shown how school pupils can boost their concentration and performance by staying hydrated throughout the day.
But there are obvious risks associated with providing water coolers and other water facilities in these areas. I spoke to a number of suppliers in this field to see how the water cooler industry is responding to demand for machines that are 100% fit for purpose, and how water cooler companies are working in schools to ensure good hydration for all.
Water cooler company Water for Work and Home recently sponsored a medical study on the dehydration affects on brain structure and function in healthy adolescents.
The results of the study, designed and carried out by Neurosense, identified that hydration needs to be a major issue for adolescents, their parents and, crucially, their schools. This could be particularly important in the run-up to and during exams.
In particular, the study identified that significant negative effects of dehydration with structural changes in the brain equated to the same level of shrinkage expected in Alzheimer patients over a two and half month period, or 14 months of ageing in otherwise healthy individuals.
This insight has been provided in the study sponsored by Water for Work and Home, which has been published in Human Brain Mapping.
Ben McGannan, MD of Water for Work and Home, believes this study provides some important pointers for adolescents, their parents and schools.
“We strongly believed that dehydration was an issue affecting students’ performance, but we sponsored this research to give us clear evidence,” he says. “It now appears that, while students may be able to tackle one exam a day while dehydrated, if they have several exams to take on the same day, lack of regular access to drinking water could have a seriously detrimental effect on their results.
“Clearly, the simplest way to tackle this issue is to allow students to bring drinking water into exam halls as well as ensure that drinking water is easily accessible near exam halls. But we know that some schools are concerned about students’ need to visit the toilet and therefore aren’t quite as willing to encourage consumption of water through the school day. There’s also an issue of what students are allowed to take into exam halls.
“But this new research sends alarm signals that long-term effects of dehydration among adolescents could be quite severe if not tackled quickly.”
Water for Work and Home is a business that focuses on well-being, including hydration and its importance at and during work. In particular, the company has been addressing the issues of hydration in schools. It now runs a programme – ‘We Love Water’ – specifically focused on pre-schools, primary and secondary schools to improve understanding and awareness of the importance of hydration in the school day.
In one project alone, focusing on hydration in pre-school groups in Kent, 73% of practitioners think the ‘We Love Water’ programme has been beneficial, encouraging children to drink more water and learn how to take responsibility for their own hydration.
Ben McGannan says, “The schools market is a high volume sector, which lends itself to the mains-fed cooler. The challenge, however, is to provide the right product for the right location and to ensure that pupils have access to adequate hydration throughout their school life.
“This means a combination of mains-fed coolers, fountains and bottled water solutions, depending on size, infrastructure and policies of the school. In primary schools, we often find ourselves putting small, compact countertop units in the classroom, with dispensing taps allowing for easy use with reusable bottles. The secondary school sector, meanwhile, often calls for high volume, robust water coolers suitable for the demands of thirsty teenagers.
“At Water for Work and Home, we work with hundreds of schools and certainly view them as a significant sector of our business, which is why we offer tailor-made solutions that encourage children to understand the importance of hydration in a healthy lifestyle.”
The main reason many children become dehydrated is that they’re not used to drinking tap water as part of their everyday routine. One of the reasons for this is that it isn’t freely available or pleasant.
Mains-fed coolers provide free, chilled drinking water and will be installed in a location that’s easily accessible.
Because they’re mains-fed, water doesn’t run out and their running costs are low. Their appearance is attractive and modern, which encourages children to associate drinking water with a pleasant experience, with many children enjoying the process of filling their bottles. They have been shown to be popular with children.
When accompanied by posters, bottles and teaching materials, many schools have found children increased their water intake and choose water as their drink of choice.
Pete Benua, MD of Oasis Europe, says: “There are industry guidelines for the installation of coolers. Key items are:
“More frequent sanitisation may be advisable in some circumstances, ie where there are lengthy periods of disuse or the coolers have been abused.”
Oasis provides a range of mains-fed coolers that meet and exceed these requirements. The Kalix water cooler uses a pressurised direct chill (PVDC) cooling tank that gives great cooling performance with maximum hygiene.
The Odyssey reservoir style cooler uses a 3.5-litre stainless steel reservoir. A 0.1 micron filter is used to prevent airborne contaminants entering the reservoir. This unit is available with a factory fitted SIP 2000 ozonation system that enables the water contact surfaces to be sanitised on a daily basis.
Hannah Oakman is editor of Cooler Innovation magazine. Subscribe here.
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