Local communities set to hydrate and feel great

FREE HYDRATION TAP TURNED ON IN TOOLAMBA… From left, local Toolamba resident, Maurice Chard and his dog, Mollie, Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor, Cr Kim O’Keeffe and Goulburn Valley Water central district team leader, Stephen Burns at the new Toolamba hydration station. Photo: Supplied.

TRAVELLERS and the general public are being encouraged to stay hydrated and feel great, with the addition of several new free water hydration stations recently installed around the region.

Permanent hydration stations have recently been installed in Tallygaroopna, Toolamba and Dookie to provide people with access to free, quality tap water.

The stations were installed in partnership with Greater Shepparton City Council, encouraging people to choose tap water as a lower cost, environmentally friendly alternative to bottled water.

Australians purchased over 726 million litres of water in a single year in 2015 alone and given that the average cost of water in the country is approximately $2.75 per litre, that means Australians may have spent up to $2 billion in bottled water in 2015 alone.

Further, bottled water needs to be pumped out of the ground, packaged, transported and chilled before it gets to our shores. This creates over 60 million kilograms of greenhouse gases a year in Australia alone. The manufacture and transport of all the plastic bottles needed for all this water requires over 460,000 barrels of oil. When the numbers stack up like that, bottled water has an unsettling taste.

Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor, Cr Kim O’Keeffe said the new hydration stations would have many benefits for health and the environment, as well as providing infrastructure to benefit smaller local communities.