CHOOSING THE RIGHT OFFICE WATER DISPENSER

CHOOSING YOUR OFFICE WATER DISPENSER

Prices and details of our dispensers

	Comparison of annual costs of bottled and plumbed in water dispensers for two sizes of office.	Office of  5 people	Office of 20 people
	Water used per year (assumes 1.5 litres per working day, 10% staff holidays and absence)	1,755 L	7,020 L
	5 Gallon bottles used	82 bottles	325 bottles
	Cost of bottles @ £6.5 each	£533	£2,112
	Bottled dispenser rental charges @ £9 per month (assumes that your supplier includes sanitisation and servicing in the rental as not all will do)	£108	£108
	Total annual cost of your Bottled water machine	£641	£2,220
	Total annual cost of UK Aqua's ACIS 200 Ambient/ Chilled floorstanding dispensers fitted with Omnipure filters.	£346	£346
	Annual saving per plumbed in dispenser	£295	£1,874

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Bottled water dispenser

• Branded bottled drinking water supplied for a bottled water dispenser is often processed tap water that has been filtered to improve the taste at an industrial scale bottling plant or mineral water extracted from a ground source.  Control of water quality is in the hands of commercially focused suppliers.

• Water bottles are often left standing at room temperature within offices for several days before being used, which provides an opportunity for bacteria to grow within the bottles. Bacteria can also enter the dispenser when bottles are changed especially if staff have dirty hands.

Point of use water dispenser

• Providing they use only a top quality filtration system, plumbed in water dispensers will filter tap water to a high level of purity.  The water they produce will be very hygienic ideal for higher risk installation such as hospital, schools and areas where they might be used by the general public.

• Generally proves more expensive except for very small offices.  The per capita cost is driven by the price per litre of bottled water.

• Cost per head continues to fall as more staff use the dispenser.  The limit to cost per head is driven by the operating life of the internal filters which is normally measured in thousands of gallons.

• Requires heavy bottles (health and safety risks) to be moved by staff and a stock of full bottles to be kept to avoid running out of water.  Empty bottles awaiting collection also take up office space. Staff time is required in ordering and changing bottles.

• Provides a constant supply of freshly filtered water.

• Requires 'sanitisation' (internal cleaning and sterilisation by a professional filtered water dispenser facilities engineer) periodically.

• Requires periodic 'sanitisation' as per bottled water dispenser.

• Carbon filters:  Many plumbed in water dispensers found in shops and offices contain low cost/ low quality '25 micron' or '10 micron' carbon filters without a 'carbon block' (although the cost savings taken by the supplier without the customers knowledge will not normally be passed on to the customer).  These carbon filters improve the taste but do not sift out relatively large particles found in drinking tap water.
• Carbon block:  Tiny flakes of carbon constantly break away from carbon filters. A carbon block is a final stage in an advanced filtration system that removes these flakes to prevent you drinking them.  Many water dispensers at present are not provided with a carbon block to reduce the suppliers costs.
• Pre-filter:  A pre-filter of a dispenser is recommended to be installed upstream of a main filter that is rated at less than 10 microns.  The pre-filter is essentially a fine sieve and reduces the bulk of fine particles that can be found in tap water that would otherwise rapidly clog the main filter. 
• UV filters: These can reduce live bacteria in water but leave the dead organisms for you to drink.  Typically UV filters are only fitted to the cold water outlet of a dispenser.  An effective alternative to UV filters are 0.5 to 1.0 micron carbon filters which can reduce bacteria by removing them from the water (it is important to use a pre-filter to ensure these filters do not block quickly ) although UV filters would be needed to detroy bacteria.
• Ceramic Filters: These sift out particles typically as small as 1 micron but do not include a carbon filter so do not reduce chemical impurities or improve the taste of water. These filters need to be fitted with a pre-filter to prevent rapid clogging.
• Reverse Osmosis: These provide the purest water for medical needs (e.g. in dialysis machines).  They are more common place for household and office drinking water in the USA but fall under restrictive regulation in the UK.  The main limitation of these filters is the flow rate and maintaining hygiene. Care is needed in handling extremely pure water which can be a corrosive fluid.

Defining drinking water service zones within areas can help to identify optimal locations for each water dispenser. Locations can be optimised to minimise walking times to and from dispensers and to help balance the numbers of staff and customers serviced by individual dispensers.

EU Drinking Water Directive 98/83, states "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure that an adequate supply of wholesome drinking water is provided and maintained at suitable points conveniently accessible to all employed persons".

Both a bottle and bottleless water dispenser require sanitisaton (professional sterilisation and cleaning in accordance with manufacturers specification).  Best practice is to fully sanitise a water dispenser internally four times yearly supplemented by daily emptying of drip trays and regular wiping down of the exterior to keep a high standard of hygiene especially around the hot and cold taps.