Business | Banish Brand Bottled Water, Says Sonu Shivdasani

[The Ed.]

It's easy to lose perspective when we are, on the whole, surrounded by our personal lands of plenty. Ok, I know that times are tough but when it comes to things that matter, we have at the very least, enough. Sonu Shivdasani, founder of Six Senses Resorts & Spas is asking businesses to take responsibility and, in a bid to address the world's water crisis, has launched The Water Campaign in September.

Shivdasani is leading this global initiative throughout the tourism and hospitality industry and will ask participating hotels, spas and resorts to bottle and sell their own filtered tap water rather than bottled brands.

Shivdasani realised that something needed to change after looking at statistics that showed almost 1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean water. He embarked on The Water Campaign following the success of his own scheme at the Soneva Fushi Resort in the Maldives. The resort banned imported bottled water and changed to triple-filtered tap water. This was then bottled on site in glass-recycled bottles with contributions from the proceeds going to a clean water fund.

Shivdasani believes that the campaign could generate up to $11 billion annually if every property in the top ten hotel/resort groups participate in the scheme.

"Our industry has a responsibility to address this problem, as tourists and travellers often consumer more water than local residents," explains Shivdasani.

"The Water Campaign says 'no' to imported, branded, bottled water, which uses unnecessary food miles and wasteful packaging, and supports the development of a profitable, sustainable alternative where 10% of the proceeds go to clean water funds."

Let's face it, water is the most basic of human needs and it's easy for us to take access to it for granted. What Shivdasani is doing is a good thing and something that we can all recreate on a (much) smaller level everyday. Refill your water bottles, use filtered tap water for clients in salon, don't fall prey to the advertising that bottled water brands slam you with.

Until then...geek on!

The Ed.

 

[geeg]

It's easy to lose perspective when we are, on the whole, surrounded by our personal lands of plenty. Ok, I know that times are tough but when it comes to things that matter, we have at the very least, enough. Sonu Shivdasani, founder of Six Senses Resorts & Spas is asking businesses to take responsibility and, in a bid to address the world's water crisis, has launched The Water Campaign in September.

Shivdasani is leading this global initiative throughout the tourism and hospitality industry and will ask participating hotels, spas and resorts to bottle and sell their own filtered tap water rather than bottled brands.

Shivdasani realised that something needed to change after looking at statistics that showed almost 1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean water. He embarked on The Water Campaign following the success of his own scheme at the Soneva Fushi Resort in the Maldives. The resort banned imported bottled water and changed to triple-filtered tap water. This was then bottled on site in glass-recycled bottles with contributions from the proceeds going to a clean water fund.

Shivdasani believes that the campaign could generate up to $11 billion annually if every property in the top ten hotel/resort groups participate in the scheme.

"Our industry has a responsibility to address this problem, as tourists and travellers often consumer more water than local residents," explains Shivdasani.

"The Water Campaign says 'no' to imported, branded, bottled water, which uses unnecessary food miles and wasteful packaging, and supports the development of a profitable, sustainable alternative where 10% of the proceeds go to clean water funds."

Let's face it, water is the most basic of human needs and it's easy for us to take access to it for granted. What Shivdasani is doing is a good thing and something that we can all recreate on a (much) smaller level everyday. Refill your water bottles, use filtered tap water for clients in salon, don't fall prey to the advertising that bottled water brands slam you with.

Until then...geek on!

The Ed.

I applaud this initiative. I absolutely refuse to buy bottled water and always have done! If anyone had told me when I was young (so not so long ago) that we would be buying bottled water on the ludicrous scale which so many now do, I would have thought the world was either going mad or we were all about to die!

It horrifies me even more to know that much of this bottled water comes from places where the indigenous population has to walk miles to get their own clean water and yet the 'fat cats' are selling it abroad and taking it out of the mouths of their own people! and we don't even need it!

We are so blessed to have perfectly clean, drinkable water coming from our own taps ... Bloody well drink it and stop buying someone else's in bottles.

 

[fozzyo]

I offer all my clients a bottle of chilled water (still or sparkling) on arrival and on leaving. Also if having a massage I will leave a bottle on the side for them to have if they wish at the end of the treatment. It is all part of offering a premium service and my clients appreciate it.

At home, while out at restaurants etc I never have bottled water - always have or ask for tap water.

But I also know about the problems of clean water for so many of the worlds population ... and so I will shortly be displaying a certificate in the loo clients use so show I have joined the Toilet Twinning. The money from this is used for a very good cause:

Tearfund and Cord will use the money raised to help provide access to better sanitation, clean water and hygiene education – helping people enjoy better health, go to school and work, and ultimately, begin to flush away poverty.