Bottled water at Festivals

Subject: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Saro
Date: 28 May 08 - 04:21 AM

When I'm singing, I drink a lot of water and I'm always delighted when organisers provide some water backstage or onstage. However, I'm getting concerned about the amount of bottled water that is being used - can't be good environmentally with all those transport costs not to mention bins full of plastic bottles at the end of the event. So...I'm starting to ask organisers if they can have a jug of water, or one of those big vacuum flasks which can be refilled from....wait for it...the tap! Anyone with me on this?

By the way, well done to Fred and Norma at the Cause in Chippenham for providing jugs of water - even though it meant potentially less income for them.

Saro

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: GUEST,Tom Bliss
Date: 28 May 08 - 04:33 AM

Yes, and it's not only bottles that get finished. I confess to occasionally forgetting which is my half-drunk bottle backstage and opening a new one - and judging by the number of half full/empty (according to your personality type) bottles I'm not alone. For clubs I carry a bottle in my stands bag which I ask the bar staff to fill - though they occasionally refuse, not understanding that the water is an essential tool not skinflinting - and that beer or pop simply doesn't work anyway. But at festivals there's a lot more hanging about, and it's usually a lot hotter, plus the bar is often miles away, so backstage water is essential. Would the jugs get refilled, though, if there was no tap in the tent? Maybe a big tank with a whale pump and - ah, just spotted a flaw... plastic cups. Maybe we should all just lie on the floor and get someone to pump it straight into our mouths! Shall we try it at Gower Saro? T

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 May 08 - 04:37 AM

I remember when tap water was palatable, but due to the interference of the EEC it is now chlorinated and sterilised, and buggered about in so many ways, that it is is either insipid or tasting of chemicals.
I agree however that the surge in bottled water is worrying, but I attribute it to the crap nature of our tap water.

G

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 May 08 - 04:45 AM

I usually have a bottle of water with me - and it's usually been refilled from the tap a goodly number of times.

You're right, it isn't good for the environment to keep buying plastic bottles, but sometimes it's the only way to get a cold drink that isn't alcoholic, fizzy or stuffed with nasty sweeteners. I would use my canteen if I could, but it's metal and clanks a lot... very distracting in concerts and I'm enough of a distraction as it is. At least with the majority of plastic bottles now you can recycle them and know you're doing a small bit to reduce waste. I was appalled at the amount of waste from one campsite and wondered if more could be done to improve the recycling facilities there - Towersey festival is one example where there are specific bins on the arena field, for recycling cans and plastic bottles.

There are certain performers who even go so far as to stipulate the brand of water they require in their contracts... and then go on to sing about saving the planet!

LTS

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Mr Happy
Date: 28 May 08 - 04:59 AM

'Er Indoors got a free gift, among many freebies, at the Great Outdoors event in Brummagem a few moths back, which was a National Truss bumbag, including a green army style water bottle - unmistakable - never confuse it with anyone else's

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: gnu
Date: 28 May 08 - 05:12 AM

Youse got "Evian" from France? It's in the stores here in eastern Canuckistan. Ever read it backwards?

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: nickp
Date: 28 May 08 - 06:02 AM

I wonder how many other products are better described backwards....

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: sian, west wales
Date: 28 May 08 - 06:21 AM

I was at a meeting last week where we had a presentation by Greenprint , established to lower the carbon footprint of the Hay Festival. I think they also service a number of other festivals, including some in Europe and beyond. I've also heard presentations by Pontardawe Folk Festival on their work in 'greening' their event. It's quite a can of worms that goes way beyond the water ...

sian

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: GUEST,Tom Bliss
Date: 28 May 08 - 06:26 AM

I do have deep concerns about my fuel footprint - to the extent of seriously thinking about giving up touring next year. Fuel prices are only putting a tin lid on it. Time was CD sales covered the juice - but not any longer. I suppose I could make a trailer for my bike out of old water bottles...

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: GUEST,Alan Surtees
Date: 28 May 08 - 06:27 AM

I wonder if I might put the organisers point of view on this subject. We have about two hundred performers on site and on stage at various times at Shrewsbury. We use marquees and to be providing jugs of water would be a full time job for several stewards. Bottled water comes in its own container and we have no doubts about quality or cleanliness. Organisers never want to spend money unless they have to but bottled water has to be the best answer for festivals. We do have plenty of taps if artists wish to replenish the water in their bottles.

I would not encourage people to buy bottled water for home but festivals have a particular problem and bottled water solves it.

no washing up, no plastic cups and happy artists (and stewards).

However we do try to purchase bottled water in biodegradable bottles. Could this be the real answer?

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 28 May 08 - 06:30 AM

We need to put more cash behind the bars or we can look forward to playing to each other in our own homes.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 May 08 - 06:37 AM

Bring the price of beer down and we will.
It's not the cheap beer in supermarkets, it's the dear beer in pubs.
All that the cheap beer does, is point out how much the breweries must be making at their prices.


G

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Mr Happy
Date: 28 May 08 - 06:37 AM

Naïve ??

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Mr Happy
Date: 28 May 08 - 06:38 AM

Oops, don't kno if the double dotted 'i' came out right then!

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Mo the caller
Date: 28 May 08 - 06:40 AM

The tap water at Chippenham can be particularly nasty. The organisers also helped out the dancers by putting water on sale at some of the dance events which did not have a bar. Last year there was a big water container in the Town Hall, not this year though.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: sian, west wales
Date: 28 May 08 - 07:11 AM

I should have mentioned that Greenprint says they'll be holding another conference for festival organizers wanting to 'go green' - I think they said in November.

Also, my sister (Canada) gave me a plastic water bottle that has a filter built in to the cap for filling up in dubious situations - I think she got it at a camping supply store. Would probably be a useful addition to the Festival-goer's equipment.

sian

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: GUEST,Tom Bliss
Date: 28 May 08 - 07:57 AM

Hi Sian

Did Greenprint say they were going to the AFO conference? That's in November. If not perhaps someone should suggest to them that they should.

Is this them?

Tom

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 28 May 08 - 09:17 AM

I'm finding that the only palatable water nowadays comes in bottles. The tap water here in Middlewich tastes like bleach.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Sir Roger de Beverley
Date: 28 May 08 - 09:19 AM

John

As I have pointed out in other threads, it isn't breweries that are making money - it is the nasty property-owning pubcos who screw the brewers, the publicans and the public.

R

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 May 08 - 09:28 AM

Actualy, re-filling plastic water bottle may cause problems, if they are not cleaned/washed now and again, they can get quite unsanitary...

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Mr Happy
Date: 28 May 08 - 09:39 AM

Concur, the one in my car turned green but the water tasted ok & I'm still alive - I think?

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Scooby Doo
Date: 28 May 08 - 09:45 AM

can you not buy a bottle of water on the way to your event or do you need a deduction from the artist wage to get a free bottle of water.



Scooby

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Mooh
Date: 28 May 08 - 10:36 AM

Simon & Garfunkle singing, "With a fridge full of bottled water...", or is that not folk?

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Saro
Date: 28 May 08 - 10:56 AM

Well, I'm certainly not trying to make life more difficult for festival organisers -it is hard enough as it is! Alan and co, I think we all appreciate being looked after with water supplies etc. and take the thoughtfulness very kindly.   I'm just suggesting that when and where it is possible to do something a bit more environmentally friendly, people could give that some thought, whether they be performers, organisers, audience members or just people who happen to read this thread...and whether their chosen solution be "refill your own bottle", or have clearly marked bins for recycling bottles...or whatever.

And yes, Foulestroupe, I agree that a frequently used but seldom washed water bottle could get a bit nasty, but then you can say the same for anything else from which you take a drink!

The water down here in Hampshire is very plentiful at the moment by the way - straight down from the sky in large quantities.

Best wishes
Saro

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: sian, west wales
Date: 28 May 08 - 11:24 AM

Tom yes that's them, and no, they don't mean AFO (where Pontardawe did a presentation a couple of years ago). But, as you've brought it up, I'd better contact Greenprint and point out that they should avoid holding their event on the same weekend as AFO. Never rains but it pours ... unbottled water, of course.

sian

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: GUEST,Tom Bliss
Date: 28 May 08 - 11:31 AM

Tell them to contact Steve about presenting there - he's always looking for interesting stuff. T

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Dave Sutherland
Date: 28 May 08 - 12:37 PM

There are a number of festivals, like the one I was at last weekend, who do not allow you to take your own drink onto the site and therefore you have to buy what that particular festival offers. However having been in the soft drinks trade for over twenty five years (although we produce more flavoured spring water than plain)I have to say that all our plastic (PET) is recycleable and if possible should be disposed of in the appropriate containers.
On the other hand what about all the festivals who now serve drink in plastic glasses - even when boasting a real ale bar!

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: danensis
Date: 28 May 08 - 03:53 PM

I must admit I was unimpressed when asked to pay £2.20 for a pint of "lemonade" in a certain pub at the Shanty Festival last weekend. A squirt of concentrate topped up with cooled tapwater, and no tax to pay.

Thinking of festivals though, what about the water cooler/filters? These are available to hire, and its often easier to lay water to a marquee using alkathene pipe than it is to get power there.

John

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 29 May 08 - 01:48 AM

"who now serve drink in plastic glasses"

Reduces the need to hose the blood out after the fights mate!

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: GUEST,dianavan
Date: 30 May 08 - 01:25 AM

The least that can be done is to make sure the plastic water bottles are recycled.

Better yet, bring your own, non-plastic water bottles. I guess you haven't heard about the risks of Bisphenol A. Its a very unhealthy chemical that leaches from the plastic, especially in the hot sun. So much so that Health Canada has banned the use of baby bottles that contain Bisphenol A. Besides causing cancer, it may be responsible for early onset puberty because it mimics estrogen.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/health/bisphenol-a.html

For Mother's day, I was presented with a red, stainless steel water bottle. My daughter bought ten of them online at about half the retail price to give to her friends and family. Don't wait for the government to protect you.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: GUEST,Graham Bradshaw
Date: 30 May 08 - 03:41 AM

As the Sound Company at many festivals, including Alan Surtees' lovely Shrewsbury of course!!, I can tell you that when we clear the stage after each concert, there are always loads of half drunk bottles of water left by the artists. I have often thought, "What a waste this is".

One solution I saw a couple of years back (at Ely I think it was) was the provision of one of those office water coolers just off the back of the stage, with a supply of plastic cups. Artists could freely fill up when they wanted, and none got wasted.
The water came in a huge container - it was bought in I think, so pure, but could just as easily have been filled up from a handy tap. You could even wash up and re-use the plastic cups if you really wanted to conserve plastic. And no plastic bottles to be thrown away, and no half full bottles of expensive water to be thrown away either!

Worth a thought I would think.

G

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: GUEST,Tom Bliss
Date: 30 May 08 - 03:55 AM

Hi Graham Old Chap,

Yes I've also noticed the waste, and even contributed to it, because there are always bottles all over the shop, and in the general melee getting on and off stage (twice) it's really easy to put down your bottle and forget where (twice). But water is absolutely essential, so you HAVE to open a new one, because otherwise you'll suffer when you sing and could do real damage.

A cooler's a good idea, but cups wouldn't do for me. I'd need four for a typical 45 minute set, and they're really easy to spill - straight into your DI boxes and 4-ways! Actually I'd be fine because I could fill my own bottle, but other artists would have to learn to bring one too. No bad thing I guess.

Actually I've had an idea. I'm going to start decanting water from supplied bottles into my recycled Irish Singer's Bottle (Luke O'Zade © Simon Mayor) which being orange I can easily spot.

That'll be a start, eh?

Tom

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: BusyBee Paul
Date: 30 May 08 - 04:42 AM

Tom, why don't you invest in one of those "camel" bags that cyclists and walkers use - a backpack which is just a water tank, with a tube that comes over your shoulder and is handily placed for putting in your mouth for refreshment!.

Added benefits - you know where it is, you don't have to bend down to pick up the bottle and risk falling off your perch and, with practise, you could probably take a sip during the instrumental riff mid-song!

;-)

I'm only half kidding!

Deirdre

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: GUEST,Tom Bliss
Date: 30 May 08 - 04:52 AM

LOL!

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Paul Burke
Date: 30 May 08 - 05:13 AM

Drink... WATER.... at festivals...???????????

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Bernard
Date: 30 May 08 - 05:41 AM

Water? Never touch the stuff! Fish fornicate in it!

W.C. Fields

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: glueman
Date: 30 May 08 - 05:48 AM

It's a Well Known Fact that bottled water was a drunken bet between two advertising execs in the early eighties to find out who could top the fridges to eskimos cliche. French volcano piss tastes no different to the sheep dip Yorkshire water put through the tap, though I believe our's is the last non-flouridated tap water in the country. Well not just our tap, obviously.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: glueman
Date: 30 May 08 - 05:54 AM

I'd draw the line at drinking London water. Actually I never fancied bathing in it much when I lived there. A moorland peat stream into which a tramp had taken his first piss of the morning was clearer. So there we are, bottles for the Smoke, tap for everyone else. Sorted.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Def Shepard
Date: 30 May 08 - 03:49 PM

I prefer water to any other form of liquid refreshment when performing, on a hot day. Beer simply doesn't cut it.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 30 May 08 - 05:22 PM

London tap water has been through the best filtration system in the world - allegedly the kidneys of at least 10 other Londoners!

LTS

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: glueman
Date: 30 May 08 - 05:51 PM

As someone clever once said, if there was anything in homeopathy the Thames would be a general antibiotic.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: GUEST,cStu
Date: 30 May 08 - 05:55 PM

Anyone seen "Thirsty Planet Water". It turned up in our health food shop recently. 50¢ for 500 ml (most bottled water here is €1.25 or so) and donates 5¢ per bottle towards buying a water pump for an african village. Probable cost €250.

I thought the cost of the bottle was insightful enough, and the donation on top makes any other brand of water pretty much unthinkble.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Dancealot
Date: 30 May 08 - 08:56 PM

I carry and refill a commercial water bottle to church, where I play harmonica. And I always have a freshly refilled bottle or two in the car or on hikes or bikes or paddles.

I notice that a water bottle is tolerated in places where "no food or beverage" signs are around.

At our dances we put out pitchers of tap water with ice. We have folks use plastic cups, but furnish felt tip markers so folks put their name on their cup. Most dancers need a lot of water.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Mo the caller
Date: 20 May 18 - 04:39 AM

Suddenly plastic waste is the fashionable concern. I should have been obvious all along, and I'm sure there are other environmental issues that are being neglected (but one step at a time I suppose).

I've just had an email from Chippenham festival telling festival-goers and artists to bring their own water bottles and refill them. See blog

On a similar theme our choir has a tea-break, serving a hot drink to 70 members. Also 2 dance clubs, though numbers are 20-40 there. There are rotas for tea-making and one of the dance clubs uses village hall cups which are washed. But washing 70 cups would take some-one out of rehearsal for too long so we use plastic. And I discovered when I looked, paper cups aren't recyclable either and are more expensive. A few people have started bringing their own mugs.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 20 May 18 - 05:06 AM

'paper cups aren't recyclable either and are more expensive.'

They may not be recyclable, they are compostable. And there's the difference.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 May 18 - 05:41 AM

Here in Australia some festival have been bottled water free for a few years & the ones I attend have been encouraging recycling & sorting waste for quite a few years now, recently in partnership with Green Music Australia

The National Folk festival has been plastic bottle free since at least 2014.

And my other regular festival, 80km south of Sydney has been bottled water free for several years now.

If I could find my old programs, I could check how long this has been happening.

As I don't drink tea or coffee, & prefer not to regularly drink juices & sugary drinks, I've been carrying a water bottle for decades, long before it became fashionable!

sandra (not usually fashionable)

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 May 18 - 06:44 AM

Last week but one I was laid low for four days by a severe bout of food poisoning. After a rigorous process of elimination (Mrs Steve and I had eaten and drunk all the same things for days), it came down to the fact that I'd refilled my plastic water bottle at a very slow, suspiciously so, drinking fountain at the Vatican Museums. I'd offered to fill hers too (it was in tbe gents) but she declined. It saved me one euro. Looking back, it was not a sensible thing to do...

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Mo the caller
Date: 20 May 18 - 09:42 AM

No, paper coffee cups aren't compostable either - they have a layer of plastic between the layers of paper.

The person who buys cups for our dance club research the options and took one to pieces to show us after a discussion at the AGM.

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: CupOfTea
Date: 20 May 18 - 09:42 AM

Having a supply of potable water at festivals has long been something I've organized with a 5 gallon dispenser, refilled regularly and - imagine that - PAPER cups! There is absolutely NO reason why anyone has to have a plastic cup to drink water. I tend to thrive on iced tea in the summer, and carry a bottle of it with me, keep frozen spares on hand for long days.

I don't think expecting people to supply their own bottle for water is outrageous, if one has facilities for free refills on site.

Joanne in Cleveland (where it gets terrible hot and muggy during festival season)

Subject: RE: Bottled water at Festivals
From: Johnny J
Date: 20 May 18 - 09:50 AM

What upsets me is when tap water isn't made available and festivals won't allow you to bring your own. Then you pay exorbitant prices for bottled water.
Many people have health conditions which require them to be well hydrated and it can be an expensive prospect having to purchase enough water in bottles if the charge a couple of quid a time.