There is little debate about the fact that too many people choose carbonated drinks rather than pure water to relive their thirst and re-hydrate. The number one source of calories in the U.S. comes from high fructose corn syrup primarily found in their ‘soda’. Americans reportedly drink a gallon of soda each week, and excessive fructose consumption is believed to be a driving force behind both obesity and chronic degenerative disease in that country.

From a strategic health perspective, the most practical and economical strategy for governments to combat obesity and chronic disease would seem to be encouraging consumers to replace their carbonated drinks and other sweet beverages with pure water. I’ve written to various UK government ministers about reducing the obscene 20% VAT charged on our own (more ecologically sensitive & suitable for infants) bottled water in the UK, yet the leaders of our nation seemingly have no appetite to engage on any area outside of their core remit. They’re good at dropping sound-bites into the media, like “we support a low carbon economy” or “we must tackle obesity as it’s a growing problem” but not so great at following through with practical steps to prove that support…

So the status quo continues and in the context of the healthy water versus unhealthy sugary alternatives, the nominal tax revenues generated from bottled water sales is bound to be more than eaten up by the ‘cost’ of the corresponding ailments in the population to the National Health Service. How can it possibly make sense to tax something good for you, at the exact same punitive level of something which is patently not good for you? Or for that matter, something with a high carbon footprint at the same level as something with a proven lower impact?

Remember, that no matter what newspaper of other articles you may read, pure, wholesome drinking water is a fundamental requirement for healthy humans and animals alike. Our bodies are mostly water, so the ongoing intake of water is essential for our every function. Articles which say tea and coffee are as good as water cannot be right. I’m no scientist, but how can something high in caffeine, which acts as a diuretic that will dehydrate you even further, be good for you?

Think about it and watch your urine colour. ‘Pale straw’ is optimum with little or ideally no smell at all. That’s your personal indicator of what your body needs to maintain its unique hydration level based on whatever you’re doing in your life at any particular time.

Of course we’re all guilty of ticking the ‘wrong’ boxes from time to time when we register for an exhibition or whatever, but what a revelation! By simply marking the incoming messages as spam and asking to come off their mailing lists, we’ve freed up a huge amount of time otherwise spent processing other peoples spam.

I pose the question what’s happened to authenticity because my experience of twitter in particular is going rapidly down hill lately. Even people I’ve met and had proper conversations with seem to have signed up to any one of the plethora of ridiculous ‘make money quick’ schemes ‘without having to do any work’. Does anyone really believe there’s a way to earn money without doing anything? Why would anyone give away their hard earned money without considering the value being received in exchange? Is it they’re lazy or simply gullible – they’ve believed the carefully crafted words of the confidence tricksters who ultimately played to their greed and in so doing they’ve undermined their longer term credibility with people they previously held some standing with…

I really don’t get it – but then I really don’t get lots of things…

Try looking at your e-mail sometime – like us, you might also find yourself saving a whole lot of your precious time.

When my wife and I embarked on our journey with Aquapax, it was fundamental to the ‘pure thirst for the environment’® which underpins our eco-based proposition, that we would not compromise our water quality. In a business context this has confounded many ‘advisors’, particularly those with ‘financial means’, who understand the proposition of packaging integrity, yet who can’t relate to the pure water contents within.

Many people and companies default to a defined ‘legal standard’ quality driver, which to my mind serves to reduce all things to a lowest common denominator. Accepting mediocrity or buying something because it’s adequate, is not the same as selecting the best available – providing the price isn’t silly. In a service sector context the equivalent would be doing the right thing to ensure the job’s done properly, rather than getting the job done ‘quick and dirty’.

When Aquapax won the ABA QATRAH award as ‘Best Bottled Water’ (on earth) we had some questions over whether the judges were swayed by our package innovation. The fact that tastings and scoring were conducted ‘blind’ proves this not to be true and it also verifies how our choice of a protected pristine mineral water source was the right one. CLICK TO READ mineral water comparison.2011

We constantly have discussions with people on this ‘quality’ subject and therapists and nutritionists in particular are great at challenging facts and figures with an admirable independence until they understand. Their personal reputation depends on their ability to communicate with integrity, so we patiently educate them on the finer points of water quality which many have never even considered.

Finally I’ve got around to putting up a fact sheet for everyone / anyone else who’s interested – it’s not too challenging to read, so I hope it helps someone.
CLICK TO READ Whats in the water

This co-incides in the UK with Climate Week – a national occasion that has become an annual renewal of the UK’s ambition combat climate change. It is (apparently) “for everyone wanting to do their bit to protect our planet and create a secure future”.

I become rather sceptical of things like this when I see the usual suspects lining up to align their corporate logos with the official logos of the events in question. I wonder how we might change things with “a peaceful revolution” to bring focus back to what’s actually happening on the ground? Reality is what happens day in and day out and it’s that which needs reporting by normal people, as activists for change, to bring about the peaceful revolution I refer to.

From my standpoint, these grand events seem to become hijacked by whoever has the biggest budget or the best media relationships. As an independent beverage player with the lowest carbon footprint ‘un-bottled water’ on the market, this seems an ideal opportunity to project attention onto Aquapax during the topical media opportunity and gain some spin off brand awareness.

This is a different objective to those seeking spin off brand alignment which is relegated again the moment the event is ‘over’.

Getting in ahead of the anticipated media clamour next week, here’s a recording of the radio interview I had with Neil Pringle on BBC Radio Sussex this morning. Mon Mar 14 Neil Pringle BBC Radio Sussex talks to Neil Tomlinson (founder of Aquapax) I didn’t quite manage to get all the points across that I would have liked but a live interview with a media professional isn’t easy and at least I didn’t spill my Aquapax over his expensive broadcasting equipment…

The defacto position is that in most civilised countries with a decent water infrastructure, clean tap water should be good for a healthy infant over 6 months of age. That’s not to be confused with the need for boiling water when mixing it with infant formula. The formula itself needs to be sterilised, which is why you add boiling water to it.

There’s so much blind advice given to new mums but common sense generally works best, like be sure to run the tap for a while to ensure the water running through is fresh…

Also, it’s a fact that not all tap water is equal and some areas tap water can contain elevated levels of nitrates – mainly in agricultural areas where adequate treatment hasn’t been installed. If your infant is ill, this water may in fact present a risk, depending on where you live, so if in doubt, it can’t harm to boil it until your infant is over a year or strong and healthy again…

The subject of minerals in water is complex, unless you’re a chemist. It’s not just the level of minerals (salt to a degree, but more importantly nitrates) you also have to be confident the bottle in question has been stored properly. Just google ‘bottled water recall’ and you’ll see how easy it is to contaminate the contents of a bottle of water if it’s not stored and handled properly.

If you’ve found your way to this page without coming in the front door, I declare a ‘self interest here’ as we produce a mineral water suitable for infants, which is also packaged in a paper carton, sealed from light and air to avoid any malhandling issues…

The blind advice to use particular brands of water seems to be given based on their advertising budgets, and some advice is ‘naive’ in the extreme. Read the labels is the only real advice to give any new mum and try to understand what the ingredients are in anything you give to your infant. Most water is certainly safer than the alternative of dehydration…

Here’s our official company stance on the subject with all the reference documents for anyone thinking of immersing in this subject further.

Nitrate / Water Quality Reference Material
WHO (World Health Organisation) nitrate commentary page. NB. See bottom of this fact sheet: – “The group at greatest risk is bottle fed infants. Breastfeeding protects babies from methaemoglobinaemia. Boiling water does not remove nitrate.”

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/methaemoglob/en/

WHO guide on nitrate & nitrite in drinking water – specifically read point 5.3 (infants < 3 months). This paper contradicts the limits of the WHO nitrate commentary paper, defining limits for toxicity with small babies with gastrointestinal disturbances. These limits (ranging from 1.5mg to 2.7 mg of nitrate per kilogram of body weight) are potentially exceeded by a number of popular mineral water brands.

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/nitratenitrite2ndadd.pdf

Drinking Water Standards in England and Wales regulations 2000. This links to the Statutory Instrument 2000 No. 3184 – The Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2000. – This defines the upper limits for acceptable drinking water in the UK. While these are upper limits, boiling tap water will not change the chemical composition of the raw product.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si2000/20003184.htm#n9

Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition issues Draft Report on Salt – 4 November 2002 “The group used information on sodium intakes from breastfeeding to estimate daily target average intakes for infants (0-12 months of age). Draft proposals suggest intakes of less than1g per day for infants aged between 0-6 months and 1g/d for infants aged 7-12 months old. For children aged 1-6 years, the target average salt intake is 2g/d and for children aged 7-14 years it is 5g/d.”

http://www.sacn.gov.uk/press/2002_11_04.html

The composition of AQUAPAX natural mineral water – Typical Analysis: mg/l (and all naturally occurring in one of life’s miracles…)
Bicarbonate (HCO3) 145
Calcium (Ca) 58,7
Magnesium (Mg) 6,3
Chloride (Cl) 13,6
Sodium (Na) 6,5
Sulphate (SO4) 48
Potassium (K) 1,0
Nitrate (NO3) <0,3
Nitrite (NO2) <0,005
Manganese (Mn) <0.002
Fluoride (F) 0.09
Uranium (U) not provable (ie. none)

The Directors of Just Drinking Water Ltd advocate drinking tap water for hydration purposes. We furthermore advocate mothers’ breast feed their babies where this is practical. We market Aquapax natural mineral water transparently as pure portable water, suitable for all, including infants.

Aquapax is unique ‘portable water’ developed as an ecologically mindful alternative, to counter the plethora of inferior quality bottled water marketed in the UK and around the world. We urge anyone considering the purchase of any bottled water to consider its ingredients and their environmental impact closely prior to making their purchase.

With double the amount of designers than last year, this bi-annual event coincides with London Fashion Week and is a perfect showcase for AQUAPAX eco-chic credentials.

The fashions on show have been created by a group of ethical designers and EcoLuxe London promotes high end, environmentally friendly fashion designers and brands, which is where AQUAPAX fits so perfectly.

With over 25 designers from ethical fashion to recycled jewellery and fair trade accessories, EcoLuxe London is also launching the ‘The Textile and Apparel Apprenticeship Programme in London’. The Centre for Sustainable Fashion has 5 stands to showcase their up and coming designers and professional hair and skin care brand Aveda has a pampering station running at the EcoLuxe London event.

Held at London’s No1 Aldwych Hotel, opposite London Fashion Week at Somerset House, EcoLuxe London is open to press and fashion buyers looking for high quality, luxury and exclusive brands with a conscience.

Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries will be in attendance at this year’s showcase, where the Deputy Prime Minister’s wife Miriam Gonzalez officially opened last year’s event.

Commenting on this year’s EcoLuxe London Miriam Gonzalez says
“EcoLuxe London is a great example of how fashion can be stunning, and yet sustainable. It offers consumers a choice in which creativity and style are not incompatible with environmental and social responsibility. It has been an honour to support EcoLuxe London and I wish them most success.”

Neil Tomlinson, founder of AQUAPAX says “AQUAPAX shares the philosophy of the designers involved in EcoLuxe London, whereby we’ve created a beautiful and environmentally conscious mineral water product in an ethical manner, balancing our entire company carbon emissions to allow guilt free enjoyment of our wonderfully pure product.”

“Just as the brands on show are 100% ethical, with an overriding responsibility to green issues, so many embrace recycled content and encourage recycling post-use. This fits perfectly with AQUAPAX, where we actively encourage customers to re-fill their empty cartons and to recycle them at the end of their useful life.”

Over 25 ethical designers and brands will be showing at EcoLuxe London this February including; By Stamo (womenswear), Elena Garcia (womenswear), Elena Antoniades (eveningwear), Chocolate Couture (jewellery), Alexandra Abraham (jewellery), Leblas (jewellery), Out Of Peru (jewellery), Outsider (casualwear), Nyonyo and Yayra (casualwear), Hemyca (tailored separates), Boutique Etique (tailored casualwear), Marco Tripoli (casualwear for men and women and accessories), Lowie Knitwear (women’s casualwear), Kiss Me Deadly (lingerie), Fashion Conscience presenting Fair + True (casualswear), Velda Lauder (lingerie), Jose Hendo (upcycled eveningwear), Debbi Little (eveningwear), Ilya Fisher (accessories), Ute Decker (fair trade jewellery), Linnie Mclarty (fair trade jewellery), Josy Flo (accessories), Eloise Grey (outerwear), White Tent London (outerwear), Sanuykta (bridal accessories), Tammam (bridal).

The Centre for Sustainable Fashion supports up and coming designers through the London Style project; a programme of business workshops and mentoring part financed by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund. Says The Centre for Sustainable Fashion about EcoLuxe London; “More and more emerging designers are exploring the concept of sustainable luxury, creating businesses that are driven by cutting edge design and responsible practice. Ecoluxe London is a great forum in which to showcase their efforts”

EcoLuxe London is a biannual green event promoting leading ethical luxury brands and designers. From this year’s showcase held at No.1 Aldwych, voted ‘Green Hotel of the Year’ 2009, to the bust forms used to display the merchandise being 95% eco-friendly and even the signage made from 100% recycled paper.

“And if all the walking around London Fashion Week makes you thirsty, there are a number of Tesco and Waitrose stores conveniently located around town where you can re-hydrate with a chilled AQUAPAX” says Neil.

When you get a label like ‘little’ within a family, it sticks with you and I seem to have viewed David with this ‘little David’ label throughout our carefree childhood.

Paul was too quick to catch so Mum and Dad gave me the ‘looking after little David duties’ and he became my virtual shadow as we grew up in what was then a rapidly developing area of Glenmore.

We attended a new community Church called Stella Presbyterian, first of all meeting in the old scout hut building and then moving to a purpose built little Church which still stands in a much larger building format today.

Our sister Jill was born six years later, much to David’s disappointment at the time (he really wanted a little brother to play with). Mum’s hands were so full with Jill, we were given a rare freedom as children to explore as widely as we wanted, provided we were always home for bath time.

We developed a wide circle of friends playing in the park along Fielden Drive and making camps in the bushes between Alton Road and Wanless Road and also exploring the wilds of the bushes behind Bobby’s house in Grosvenor Road. We enjoyed skateboarding together and the summers literally lasted forever…

As our boyhood friend Robbie Jennings wrote in an e-mail when he heard of the accident, “they were carefree days” and “David’s passing has somehow torn a hole in the fabric of my life”. I feel exactly the same!

In the battle for pecking order which young boys go through, David used to get involved in various scraps which I inevitably had to fight for him as he was too small… It was a respectable way to look after a little brother…

David and I shared a bedroom for around 17 years in total and we shared a lot more of life, then and in the years that followed.  We were confirmed into the Church standing next to one another when I was 16 and David was just 14. We had a wonderfully supportive group of friends who never forgot us, nor we them.

The only good thing the SADF ever did, from my point of view, was to call Paul up to army, as David and I then finally got our own bedrooms for a period! Paul returned from army in 1978 and David and I were back in one room again for another couple of years, until Paul & Helen got married.

In 1980 I went off to study in the States and when I returned a year later, our good friend Ron Mattig took me aside and gave me some valuable words of advice which I thank him for. He told me how David had stepped out of my shadow during the year I was away and that he was no longer ‘little David’ – he had become an equal member of our circle of friends known as the goat and our friend Ron insisted I respect him for that. Interestingly no-one ever explained to me why they started calling my little brother ‘the goat’ and I showed respect by never asking.

David and I still did many things together, particularly when I got my first car, but things were never the same – he’d grown up and now had his own motorbike, he was no longer ‘little David’ – such is life…

I studied at Technikon, while David went off to army in 1982 – he had a pretty lousy time in Pretoria before being transferred down to Natal Command where he worked as camp photographer on their news editorial team. This was probably the genesis of his love for photography & his advocacy of the Nikon brand.

Upon leaving the army, he worked as a camera man filming sports events and training videos, while driving his beloved Puma sports car. We would still end up at Ron Mattig’s house most weekends with our childhood friends, John, Miles, Bobby, Eric, Charl, Marcus, Remy, Paula and Trish Stewart & the list goes on.

David met Allison Krok in 1986 when he was working in Durban overseeing one of our Dad’s interests and Allison was working at Indigo. He was completely smitten by her and I recall his answer to my question of “what’s she like?” was “she’s a free spirit Neil – she’s different to your girlfriends and I don’t care what you think because she’s mine.”

That was David for those who knew him; never afraid to hold an opinion and never backward at volunteering his forthright views on whoever he was talking to. He wasn’t always right, but he certainly always believed he was…

David completely adored Allison and they were married on 26 August 1989. They had a successful marriage and have proven to be good parents, spending time ensuring their children’s education was paramount in their lives, giving them their best prospects for the future.

David loved his 2 children; his beautiful daughter Jade, born on 13 December 1990 was the apple of his eye and he was very proud of his smiling son Mark, born on 17^th August 1992. When David, Allison, Jade and Mark came to England on holiday in 1996, Allison was still David’s Alley Cat and Jade was very much his special girl. Mark just smiled.

David got into the Round Table movement in 1996, courtesy of his dear friend Geoff Burgess and we know he loved the fellowship he found in Tabling life. Geoff tells how he was enthusiastic from the beginning and was highly respected by his fellow Tabler’s, becoming Chair of the Wandsbeck council in 2000. He travelled internationally as a Round Table representative and stayed with me when he travelled to the UK as a guest of Gravesend Round Table in Kent.

David worked hard at whatever he did, applying his considerable eye for technical detail to analysing how things worked – everything he owned and worked with – it was never enough to read the instruction manual – he needed to research it thoroughly and then take it apart to ensure it was built properly and that he would understand it. To his family, he was always the gadget man…

When I finally got married in England to my wife Alison Tomlinson the 2^nd (as David called her), David flew over for my wedding and was typically behind the camera from the moment he arrived. Alas I have no photos of David on my wedding day, because he was taking all the photos.

My Ali and I had the pleasure of staying in Mum’s apartment with David and Allison when we came over for a visit in December 2003. It was a privilege to meet his family properly and their circle of friends at that time. I’m eternally grateful for that wonderful Christmas we had at Paul and Helen’s as a family.

As has become a near tradition, David and Allison, Mark, Jade and Jasyn spent their last Christmas day together at Paul and Helen’s in Kloof and it was a good day! It was a BIG birthday for Helen, so there were more people there than usual and as was typical of David, he was the man behind the camera. Fortunately, this fact was noticed on this particular Christmas day, which was destined to be his and Jade’s last, and we are fortunate to have a few photos which include David this year, taken by Paul’s good friend Keith.

For me and many others gathered here, the world stopped for a period on Boxing day 2010 when this terrible tragedy unfolded. That a car crash should ruin a well planned family holiday is bad enough; that it should claim the lives of David and Jade seems plain wrong…  That 3 people survived the terrible crash, is a tribute to David’s evasive action as a driver and deeply ironic how he most certainly saved the life of the idiot driver who took theirs.

Paul and I had cause to repair Paul’s lawnmower on New Year’s day just passed, and we both expressed how David would know what was wrong and he would have been able to help fix what took us a few hours in considerably less time…

I’m sure there will be many more such moments for many more of David’s friends and family who knew and loved him. Our Mum had been storing up jobs for him to complete when he returned to England with her in April – alas this was not to be and the burden of fixing things now falls on people less qualified and capable like Jill’s husband Rob and myself.

The grief comes crashing in like waves which grab my gut and twist it till it hurts, burning my eyes and throat with tears that stop flowing, only to come back when I’m least expecting them.

It will be like this for a while…

But we can shed tears that they are gone, or we can smile because they have lived.

We can close our eyes and pray they will come back;  or we can open our eyes and see all they left behind.

Our hearts can be empty because we cannot see them;  or we can be full of the love we shared together.

We can turn our back on tomorrow and live yesterday…  or we can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

We can remember them and only that they have gone;  or we can cherish their memories and let them live on…

We can cry and close our minds, be empty and turn our backs… or we can do what they would have wanted us to do…

We can smile, we can open our eyes, we can love and we can go on.

I pray we will all think and speak openly of David and Jade in the months and years ahead…

That way they will live on in our memories and our hearts as we wish they did in our lives.

God Bless you both David and Jade…  May you rest in peace!

Neil Tomlinson
5 January 2011
Durban Botanical Gardens

All the messages are the same; here’s a perfect opportunity to contact the bbc and get your message across, how it’s not all about big corporates exploiting people… how poor the water quality is in many of the bottled waters out on store shelves… how there are options out there (aka Aquapax) for people of conscience who still care about what they ingest.

If only it were that simple… even the bbc points of view message board is down for maintenance, so I’m sorry but we can’t even comment via that forum either! 

Reading between the lines, any bbc programme billed as a major series means they had a BIG budget and had to visit at least half a dozen exotic locations to ensure the images will entertain the audience and give an appearance of being credible where a dry research report wouldn’t be understood. Who are they trying to fool (other than the license payers) as we all know bbc2 audiences respond more favourably to facts than sensationalist journalism.

If anyone knows a journo looking for a reasonably intelligent conversation on the whole bottled water thing, please give them my number or my twitter profile @neiltwaterguy and I’d be delighted to engage…

ps. we had our annual trading standards visit yesterday and it’s another clean bill of health – as if we’d expect anything less. We’ve also had approval from Aquapax water quality analysed in the Middle East as being ‘suitable for infants’ so it’s all go over there too.

Hang on in there – the revolution is flowing…