In the early 1990’s I was invited to China to study drinking water in primary schools of which there were more than one million in the country. As part of the study, I visited dozens of primary schools within a 100 mile radius of Beijing. By and large, the schools were poorly equipped with drinking water. When available it was invariably poor quality.
So how did parents react? They provided their children with a bottle of boiled water to take with them to school every day. At each school I was fascinated by the system the children had for storing their water bottles. Some schools had issued a uniform bottle and each child was allocated a specific spot to put the bottle so they could identify which one was theirs. Other schools allowed any type of bottle and the children could identify their bottle by its design. The point is, the children brought their boiled water to school rather than depend on the water available at the school. I’m sure there have been improvements in the quality of drinking water available in Chinese schools since my visits but the concept of bringing your own water to school has merit.
Here in the USA, the New York Daily News on September 25, 2009 reported on a study that found the drinking water in thousands of schools across the country in the past decade contained unsafe levels of lead, pesticides and dozens of other toxins.
I’m not equating the severity of the problem here to that of China. However, until those schools can take steps to clean up their drinking water it may be prudent for parents to give their children their own bottle of distilled drinking water to take to school.
Even if the schools have not taken action, parents and children can. With a Pure Water distiller at home the parent can fill their children’s bottle each day with the knowledge they are taking high purity water for drinking regardless of the water quality provided at the school. Of course there is an easy solution to the issue for the schools. They could install a networked water-distillation system to dispensers so they deliver water to the children “as pure as nature intended”
http://www.nydailynews.com/fdcp?1289921758937
http://www.epa.gov/economics/children/features/s3-graph.html
Drinking water can contribute to good health, and schools are in a unique position to
promote healthy, dietary behaviors, including drinking water. students typically spend at least 6 hours at school each day.Ensuring that students have access to safe, free drinking water throughout the school environment. Access to safe, free drinking water helps to increase students’ overall water
consumption, maintain hydration, and reduce energy intake.so safe drinking water in schools is a major requirement.