Water-to-Go: WF’s new drinking water policy

In this short film see Jonny explain about WF’s new drinking water policy.

Ever since I started WF we have provided drinking water on all our group tours, which usually comes in the form of mineral water in plastic bottles. Over the course of a typical year we could use a staggering 30,000 such bottles. We have long felt this was not a satisfactory state of affairs, and many of our travellers, being ethically minded, have pointed out the same to us. With single use plastic becoming a growing concern around the globe, we feel it is time to act.

So we are now delighted to announce that we are changing that policy, and as from 1st Jan next year we will no longer be providing drinking water.

What we are doing instead is encouraging our clients to buy one of these, a water to go self-filtering water bottle, subsidised through our website so you will only pay half what they cost elsewhere.

Over the last year I have been testing various self-filtering water bottles. I have used a life straw in Montenegro and a water to go bottle in Madagascar. And there are other versions as well such as the travel tap variety. But when we added up all the pros and cons of each type we came to the conclusion that water to go was the best for us to offer.

And I think they are brilliant. This is not just about pulling water from a stream or lake when you are on a hike, although they are great for that. It’s not just for taking water form some other source you may not be sure about. It’s also about being sure you have water you can drink in your hotel bedroom. Or even using at home.

On a practical note they hold just under a litre of water, the filter lasts for 200 litres before it will need replacing – typically around 3 months of constant use – and they take out 99.9% of all micro biological contaminants.

These water to go bottles retail for around £25. Thanks to our subsidy, through the Wild Frontiers site our clients will be able to buy them for around half that price. So I hope you will join us on this joint initiative between ourselves and our travellers to help cut down the amount of plastic we use, and help make the world a better place.