FRANK water. Drink me, save lives

Can bottled water be sustainable? FRANK water is a new type of bottled water company, a social enterprise that benefits disadvantaged groups directly.

It is reported that roughly 26 million adults now drink bottled water in the UK. This supports an industry but also generates a substantial amount of waste and has on average no benefits other than convenience. FRANK Water offer socially responsible, artesian spring, Devon water which bubbles to the surface naturally and requires no drilling. All of the profits go to clean water projects in disadvantaged areas in India and soon in Ghana. In partnership with WaterHealth International, water technologists, and Naandi, an Indian NGO that act as local co-ordinators, FRANK fund clean water projects using a five filter process, including UV, which neutralises pathogens and renders water 99.99% safe to drink, much like the water we are used to in the West.

2 billion people in the world lack access to clean water and approximately 2.2 million people die each year from drinking contaminated water. AFter suffering from ameobic dysentry from contaminated water, Katie Alcott, founder and Managing Director of FRANK, decided to establish a not-for-profit organisation that would take advantage of the booming British market for bottled water in order to help alleviate the problems associated with global clean water supplies.

1 litre of FRANK water sold in the UK funds 200 litres of clean water in India or Ghana. Villagers pay a nominal fee (1 rupee for 15 litres, enough drinking water for a family of four for one day) which funds the salaries of three on-site employees. Plant machinery requires two hours of electricity per day and FRANK are working on new designs for solar electricity production. Plants are built central in a village, which solves access problems, and have the capacity to provide water for up to 5,000 people. FRANK has funded its first project in Kothapeta, Andrah Pradesh and is in the process of building 4 more this summer. In total, FRANK will provide clean, safe water for 20,000 to 25,000 people.

FRANK products come in different sizes and containers. Having investigated the use of compostable bioplastics FRANK decided against them as the UK market is not ready yet; instead their plastic bottles are recyclable PET. They have recently started providing plumbed-in water cooling systems, in collaboration with water coolers direct, which is an economic way for companies to provide cold filtered water for their staff. With a customer-driven product and no advertising budget, FRANK rely on word of mouth to promote their business and it seems to be working. Business currently grows by more than 100% per year. They take the Fair Trade movement as a model. As ethical consumerism of this sort is a new business model, FRANK are receiving support from a PhD student at Bristol University on creating a framework for ethical consumerism.

Their underlining principle is that bottled water is a convenience product, not an every-day commodity. This is why they choose to promote their products to restaurants, fair trade cafes, businesses and small independent retailers. Their clients include Virgin Media, Bath half-Marathon, British Heart Foundation and Oxfam. In their effort to discourage bottled water drinking at home they have consciously kept away from supermarkets. They have challenged the market and it seems to have worked. More ethical water companies are emerging.

FRANK feel that the Government can do more to communicate its targets and commitments to the market, vertically and horizontally, needs to look wider than simply sustainable products but into stakeholders and ethics and above all it should lead by example.

FRANK link thirsty consumers in the UK with thirsty villagers in developing nations. By coincidence, FRANK was founded the same year as Make Poverty History. And their long term business aim is to put themselves out of business!

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