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.
So what exactly is going into the bottle?
All Thirsty Planet products are made from high quality spring water. However, current legislation doesn’t allow this to be stated on the bottle if other products are packed from the same source.
How exactly is the money raised?
It’s really very straight forward. Every pack and bottle of Thirsty Planet states exactly how much money is being donated from the purchase. Every penny of that is then paid over to the charity.
Where does the money go?
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 work with Pump Aid?
Quite simply, 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 work with and decided that the work being carried out by Pump Aid over the past ten years had proved to be cost effective and above all, sustainable.
How is Thirsty Planet different from other charity waters?
Thirsty Planet is different in two ways. Firstly, customers know exactly how much money is being donated to the charity at the time they buy the product and 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. It only costs 50p to give someone clean water for life!
What kind of pumps do you use?
Pump Aid install Elephant pumps. These pumps are very simple to construct and material costs are only £250. On average, they supply around 500 people with at least 20 litres of clean water per day. The pumps could claim to supply more people, but Pump Aid are keen to limit the number so that all the water needs of people are met along with the ability to irrigate and grow crops in a nearby garden.
Due to the simplicity of the design, Elephant Pumps can be sited virtually anywhere in Africa. There are some situations where an Elephant Pump will not be effective, but it is suitable for over 80% of the country and can be built in remote areas where it’s not possible to get drilling rigs and large commercial vehicles.
The maintenance costs are also minimal and over 95% of pumps are working at any one time. Pump Aid have now built over 4,000 pumps and the ones built over 10 years ago are still in operation.
Over the next year, Pump Aid will build over 1,000 pumps. That’s an average of 3 every single day!
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?
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. Visit our environment page for more information.
What about food miles?
We pack the product in the north of England and on the Welsh border. It’s in all our interests to keep distribution costs and mileage to a minimum. Thirsty Planet can be packed anywhere in the world provided the water source is of a high enough quality, and food miles is a major consideration in how we manage the growth and development of the brand.