New ‘Hydration Station’ At Hamilton Ferry Station
Earlier today [June 19] Greenrock unveiled a ‘hydration station’ located on Front Street at the Hamilton Ferry Terminal, which will provide the community with a free and convenient source of safe, filtered drinking water.
This hydration station – otherwise known as a water/bottle re-fill station – is the first of six for an approved pilot phase in the City of Hamilton in 2012. All six of the hydration stations are being funded by Bermudian solar energy company, Alternative Energy Systems (Bermuda) Ltd. (AES), founded and operated by Tim Madeiros.
“We are thrilled to introduce this new, environmentally friendly option for people in Bermuda to access clean drinking water while they are out and about free of charge,” said Judith Landsberg, Greenrock President.
“In addition, we are so grateful to Mr. Madeiros at AES for funding these first six hydration stations. We hope that his generosity and interest in promoting a sustainable way of living inspires other companies to follow suit.”
Mr. Madeiros added: “As a renewable energy provider and a Bermudian, I am always looking for ways to be more eco-friendly and encourage others to do the same. When I discovered the realities of our addiction to disposable bottled water and the harm it does to the environment, I knew I had to support this hydration station initiative.”
According to Greenrock, in Bermuda, approximately 17 litres of imported bottled water are consumed every minute, and if you were to fill one-third of a plastic water bottle with oil, you would be looking at roughly the amount used to produce and transport that bottle. In addition, it takes approximately 450 years for a plastic water bottle to degrade in the natural environment.
With statistics like these, Charles Brown, Director of the Sustainable Development Department, is also in support of the installation of hydration stations in Bermuda. “Encouraging people to reduce waste and their reliance on imports is consistent with the mandate of Bermuda’s Sustainable Development Plan,” said Mr. Brown.
“BAC will be maintaining the stations and replacing the filters per the recommended guidelines,” said Dr Landsberg. “In addition, we can monitor usage through a built-in metre which will help us estimate the decrease in plastic water bottle consumption.”
Each station costs $6000 complete with shipping. The City of Hamilton is pitching in by installing the hydration stations and supplying all of the water free of charge.
The hydration stations, produced by the Australian corporation Aquafil, are built to stand up against tropical storms and vandals alike. The stations have been used successfully in areas across Australia, including the coast which is similar to the marine environment in Bermuda.
The remaining five hydration systems that are a part of this pilot phase will be installed by the end of the week in the following locations:
- Queen St. – Par-la-Ville Park entrance
- Dundonald St./Cedar Ave. – Victoria Park entrance
- Church St. – Bus Terminal
- Reid St. extension – outside Cavendish parking lot
- Union St. – Liberty Theatre
“The next phase for installation of hydration stations will be on the Railway Trail and we are hopeful that in the future this project will expand into St. Georges, Dockyard and the airport,” said Dr Landsberg.
Read More About
Category: All, Environment, News
I think this is fabulous and hats off to AES however I can’t help but be a little disappointed that the Corporation did not assist with funding. But way to look out for the environment AES!!
Why should the public sector (i.e. the taxpayer- you and me) pay for something that the private sector sees as good marketing and will pay for? You will also see that the Corporation is paying for the installation and the water consumed.
What a great initiative to introduce to the island. Congrats to those organizations who made this possible with their donations of time and resources.
Can this help in filling my water tank?? I’ll bring my gallon jugs
hope its not big enough for Jinx to take a bath…..although that is not a regular occurrence….Sonny is not due until September…..
LOL!
Greenrock unveiled a ‘hydration station’ located on Front Street at the Hamilton Ferry Terminal, which will provide the community with a FREE and convenient source of safe, filtered drinking water. ANYTHING THAT IS FREE IN 2012 IS A GOOD THING SO THANK GOD FOR THAT AND THANK GREENROCK ! I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE IT! FREE WITHOUT A CATCH ! NORMALLY IT’S A CATCH WHEN IT COMES TO FREE STUFF! NOW ALL BERMUDA NEEDS IS A “FOOD STATION” THAT WILL PROVIDE THE COMMUNITY WITH “FREE” AND CONVENIENT SOURCES OF SAFE GOOD TASTING BERMUDIAN CUISINE! I WOULD REALLY LOVE THAT!FREE FOOD ! EVERYBODY IS COMING THEN!
Very interesting.. the question is.. whats in the water that you don’t know about. Until then keep drinking cause its Free…………..
You’re an idiot
I 2nd that.
http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/5-reasons-not-to-drink-bottled-water
Great job!
This is great for our tourists and locals! No longer necessary to buy bottled water when you are out and about in town!
And God Said: “Let the Bums Have Water”
Best idea I have heard of in a long time!!!
What does the actualy filling tap/nozzle look like ?
At my old workplace they had very high quality water dispensers , double reverse osmosis UV light treatment ,etc.
The problem was that without thinking people would fill their personal drinking bottles right from the spout with both making full contact.
So , if you’ve got some communicable disease like cold , flu or heavens knows what else, the bacteria end up all over the dispensing spout becasue what was on their lips is now all over the spout !
Yuck !
For real. Need to see the design on this thing. Get ready to kiss every user that has EVER used it before you?
If your water bottle doesn’t touch the outside of the spout then the internal nozzle is anti-bacterial. The water will be tested regularly and the filters replaced according to the recommended schedule.
YAY for Greenrock and AES!! Great news!
Re: Jinx and showers – I always said if I won a lottery, I would set up a facility with about 6 showers, clean towels, cloths, soap, toothbrushes,toothpaste and a change of underwear for the homeless to bathe. There is nothing more devastating to the self-esteem, IMHO, than to know that people avoid you because you stink. And if, by the slimmest chance, you were thinking of applying for a job, being unwashed would be a major deterrent from even trying.
With the numbers of jobless and homeless increasing, maybe someone with some cash (of which I have very little) might see fit to further this idea.
The Corporation stated that one of its reasons for filling in the fountain/pool was because the homeless were taking baths in it. Clearly, there is a desire to be clean. Who was it said “cleanliness was next to Godliness?”
You mean this is not PLP free thing wow brilliant!
Someone mentioned a health concern about the transfer of germs on the dispensing spout.In Toronto these some of the units were removed from public locations when officials measured high levels of germs and bacteria.If someone regularly changes the water delivery system and cleans the touch points I may give it a try.
For those concerned about the water dispensing points, please note that they have anti-bacterial nozzles incorporated into them!
Check out the manufacturer’s website:
http://arrowalpha.com.au/aquafil-water-refill-stations.html
Well done to Greenrock and AES!
Checked the website and it says anti bacterial touch points alright.Is that good for virus protection which is how most colds,cold sores and flu is spread.
Sorry but when someone drinks repeatedly from the same bottle and touches the refill spout those germs are there for the next bottle to pick up.Most golf courses have eliminated water jugs on the course for that very reason.A biodegradable paper cup dispenser would be a better idea.
Now a free liquor stand and the line will reach all the way to Dockyard. LoL!! Well done Greenrock & AES. It can help out the seniors especially in the hot days of summer.
What about the person who just wants to stick his/her mouth under there for a quick swig?
This is excellent. And, if it’s a concern, I am sure there’s some commercially available product you can carry with you to sanitize the nozzle prior to use. Agree that it could be kind of gross if someone drinks directly from the nozzle. Yuck.
But- here’s the other thing I would note- many people who will use the hydration stations are also the kind of people who wouldn’t buy bottled water in the first place, so the meters may not be a totally accurate measure of how many bottles it’s saving. What you can measure is what you can measure- just how much water is being consumed, without other conclusions for now. I’m thinking about this in a different manner- if water is free but it costs to buy a soft drink (likely with all sorts of unhealthy junk in it), then people will be making a healthier and smarter economic choice by using these stations. And maybe benefit the environment, too. How much is a bit debatable, surely these things take some energy to run unless I missed something about that in the article.
All of this said, I’m looking forward to seeing fewer plastic bottles littering our public spaces. Nice work!
Figure this will be great also when I need to add water to my car to clean the windshield, was my bike, wash sand off my feet, shower, rinse off fish I catch off the dock. Keep your buckets handy. Unfortunately, I see this thing getting abused and vandalized. The guys that hang out at the dock area there, live there rather, may use it as a bathroom. A water station smelling of urine will not be good. I’ll probably just buy a bottle from the Smoking Barrell.
I guess that one could list any number of reasons why an initiative like this might not work or might be abused. Obviously all could be seen as valid observations in some shape, manner or form. That being said, it would be truly unfortunate not to pursue initiatives that could potentially benefit the community because of the “possibility” of misuse or abuse. Ultimately time will tell and due to the efforts of AES, the Corporation of Hamilton, BAC and Greenrock it looks like this initiative is being delivered at no real cost to the community. Personally, I appreciate their efforts and hope that this represents a growing trend in community minded development.