frequently asked questions
Here are some of the questions we often get asked. If there’s anything else you would like to know, please get in touch.
what is the ‘Donation Guarantee’?
Every single bottle of Thirsty Planet guarantees a fixed donation to the charity Pump Aid. It’s the equivalent to each bottle guaranteeing to provide 5,000 litres of clean water… that’s clean water every day for four months! This is a fixed, protected contribution to the charity.
From each bottle of Thirsty Planet sold, 2p goes to Pump Aid. The simplicity of the donation mechanic means that we can keep track of our customer’s donations and we know exactly what they have helped to fund. Our guaranteed commitment directly equates bottles sold to support provided making it an easy concept for supporters to understand, especially children. It is a simple transparent way to make a measured difference.
how does Pump Aid get the donation?
Every penny that is raised from the sale of Thirsty Planet is paid over to the charity Pump Aid each month. We work closely with them to forecast the funding so that they can plan ahead and be as cost effective and efficient as possible. Our auditors report annually on this activity.
why has thirsty planet chosen to partner with Pump Aid?
Pump Aid proved to be the best managed and most effective water charity in its field. We spent a long time looking at who we should partner with and saw that the work being carried out by Pump Aid had proved to be cost effective and above all, sustainable.
how is thirsty planet different from other charity waters?
Thirsty Planet is different in many ways though there are two main factors which set Thirsty Planet apart from other charity-supporting waters. Firstly, customers know exactly the contribution they are making to communities in Africa when they buy the product. Secondly, Thirsty Planet’s relationship with Pump Aid means that clean water can be brought to people in Africa for a fraction of the price of some other solutions through a sustainable delivery program.
how does Pump Aid decide where to build the pumps?
Pump Aid receives thousands of requests every year for assistance. When a letter of application is received a Pump Aid staff member is deployed to conduct a thorough investigation at the proposed site to assess both the geology and the impact that a pump could have on the local area. When choosing a site, those communities with the biggest need are given priority; this could include an assessment related in HIV/Aids infection or the location of the local school.
Schools are essential as the children often spread the news of the new facilities to other areas, ensuring more people hear about them and can benefit. This also provides UK schools to connect with the schools they are supporting tolearn more about each others communities.
what exactly goes into a bottle?
Thirsty Planet is high quality spring water with a perfect mineral balance, sourced in the original British spa town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire. It is as pure as it gets.
TYPICAL ANALYSIS (mg/litre)
- Calcium = 56.7 mg/l
- Magnesium = 18.5mg/l
- Sodium = 7.4mg/l
- Chloride = 34mg/l
- Nitrate = <1mg/l
- Sulphate = 8.2mg/l
pH (at source) 7.0
what kind of pumps do you use?
Pump Aid mainly installs Elephant pumps. These pumps, based on a 2,000-year-old Chinese design, are very simple and cheap to construct, maintain and repair. The simplicity of its design means the Elephant pump can be sited virtually anywhere in Africa, even in remote areas which other organisations who are reliant on drilling rigs and large commercial vehicles couldn’t reach.
how much does a pump cost?
The pump hardware costs just £500. The additional costs for materials to prepare the well and install an Elephant Pump have risen over the last two years, particularly in Zimbabwe because of the economic crisis there. With materials such as concrete and pipework less readily available locally, this has added significantly to the cost and still varies considerably.
Maintenance costs however are minimal as repairs can be carried out by local people using readily available materials.
what advantages do Elephant Pumps have over other kinds of pumps?
Because of their simple design, Elephant pumps actually work better with hand-dug wells rather than drilled bore holes. Holes can be dug much wider by hand, which means a better store of water can be created without having to dig too deep. Not using drilling equipment saves thousands of pounds per pump – Elephant pumps are up to twenty five times cheaper to install than pumps used by other charities. It also means wells can be dug in hard-to-reach places inaccessible to heavy machinery. Much of the countryside in sub-Saharan Africa where Pump Aid operates has a good water supply which can easily be reached without having to drill.
Elephant pumps do not use a piston, which means the seals placed on top of the wells to keep the water sanitary are less likely to crack through repetitive use. Again, their simple design is an advantage in that the people who receive a pump are able to carry out any maintenance work that might be required, with training provided by Pump Aid, using cheap, locally-sourced materials such as bits of plastic and plant fibres. More complicated pumps can cost several hundred pounds every year just to keep in working order.
Elephant pumps are quick and efficient, being capable of extracting a litre of water every second. They are designed to be self-cleaning so they do not clog up, and because excess water is diverted to storage tanks or vegetable gardens, hardly any water is wasted – essential during the long dry seasons. And because they are hand or foot-powered, they are also very environmentally-friendly.
What are your targets?
We want to ensure every beneficiary receives 40 litres per person per day, not just for personal use, but also to water livestock and to irrigate vegetable gardens and fruit trees, giving people a better diet and the chance to earn money by selling surplus crops at the market.
Initially, we have focussed on bringing clean water to at least 10,000,000 people by 2015. This is the timescale set by the UN when it identified its Millenium Development Goals (MDG) back in 2000.
what packaging do you use?
At present we use lightweight PET plastic for all our bottles. There is currently a significant premium for recycled PET and not sufficient material available in the market. We are confident that this will change in the near future. There is a new plastic made from corn starch (PLA) but at the moment this technology is not scalable or particularly efficient. PLA is also difficult to recycle and has a very short shelf life.
We are working with all our packaging suppliers to introduce as much recycled material as possible. We’re sure that there will be improvements in packaging in the near future and we are committed to adopting these when they are proven and sustainable.
