water Archives - HodgePodgeDays

When raw sewage lifted a manhole cover in my Dad’s garden and human waste bubbled out and ran down his path, he guessed there was a major blockage somewhere. He got on the phone to United Utilities and they sent a team down to deal with it.

After some serious and rather disgusting delving, they discovered that one of the pipes was blocked with a nappy on of his neighbours flushed down the toilet (how this is possible I do not know). They also found about six months worth of baby wipes another neighbour had used each night to take her make up off, which she then flushed away.

I’ve always been careful about what we flush down the loo. The usual stuff is ok, but anything like nappies, wipes and sanitary products are always wrapped up and binned – the lesser of two environmental evils. If my home was a hospital those kinds of things would be labelled “biohazard” and sent for incineration, but these days my local council favours landfill.

United Utilities have recently launched a campaign to think before you flush. It’s a campaign I fully support, having surveyed the aftermath of the “poopocalypse” in my Dad’s garden I am keen to do everything I can to stop that happening here. I’ve also walked on far too many beaches which have been strewn with things people have just flushed and forgotten, and no one wants to take a child to a beach covered in used condoms and tampons.

think before you flush

In the UK we spend over £500 million per year on wipes for all sorts of purposes, from cleaning our sinks to caring for children. Wipes are so handy around the home, I think I’ve got at least 5 different kinds of wipes in my house for all different purposes. The problem is they don’t biodegrade and break down like toilet paper would, even if they say they’re biodegradable on the packet they can still clog up the sewers around your home for months or even years whilst they rot down.

Each year United Utilities deals with around 25,000 blockages, a significant number of which are caused by unflushables being flushed! If you take a moment to wrap any unmentionables (I use cheap nappy bags at about 20p for 250) and bin them you can do your bit to help prevent blockages not just on your property, but down your street and beyond. It also means the next time you go for a walk on the beach you might not be reunited with something you flushed and forgot.

The only thing you should flush down your toilet are the three Ps – pee, poo and toilet paper! Think before you flush!

For a whole heap of useful resources including videos, pictures and reports as well as a family friendly downloadable information pack created especially for parents which includes fun activities and posters, visit the United Utilities Website.

= In collaboration with United Utilities =

Going to a blogging event such as Blog On MOSI can be thirsty work, all that chatting and making new friends. During one of the breaks I was perusing the promotional stands and bumped into the friendly girls from More Vitamin Drinks. They noticed I looked a bit parched and slipped me a bottle or two of their vitamin water drinks to rehydrate me. I was eternally grateful, a cold fizzy flavoured water is one of the most refreshing drinks I know.

When I got home I emailed to thank them for their hospitality and they very kindly sent me (virtually) the full range of More Vitamin Drinks to try out.

more drinks

More Vitamin Drinks have two ranges of water based drinks for adults and children, with larger bottles for adults and the smaller “A Little More” range for children. Each bottle is enhanced with vitamins and minerals (each flavour is different) and it supposed to be great for helping to rehydrate you after exercise or in hot weather, or just whenever. It’s not a sports drink, it’s just a drink.

I was sent –
Still Mango & Passionfruit (vitamin D)
Sparkling Blackcurrant & Blueberry (vitamin A)
Still Cranberry & Pomegranate (minerals)
Sparkling Lemon & Lime (multivitamins)
Still Apple & Raspberry (B vitamins)
Sparkling Orange (vitamin C)
A little More – Apple (multivitamins)
A little More – Mango (vitamin D)

It just so happened that the week we tried the More Vitamin Drinks it was really quite hot. I went for a few walks down by the river and treated myself to a nicely chilled bottle while I was out. When I picked the small boy up from school I’d have a cold bottle ready for him to drink on his way home.

We enjoyed them all, obviously we all have our flavour preferences, I’m not keen on mango, but the boy loves it, I prefer fizzy, he prefers still, etc etc. I can’t comment on if the added vitamins had any instant effect, I liked the idea that I was putting something good in my body, but it was too short a testing period to see any significant benefits, although I can tell you they are cracking if you’ve got a hangover!

I do often reach for a cold fizzy water when I’m thirsty, especially in the summer. More Vitamin Drinks are low in calories, usually with under 10 calories per bottle, which is something I look for when I buy these kinds of drinks. I like that it’s not just a bog standard flavoured water and that it can help aid nutrition, but in this weather it’s just a really simple way of keeping hydrated.

I would definitely look out for these drinks in the future. They are available from a range of shops including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Ocado, and sell they for around £1.45 per 500ml bottle. You can find out more about More Vitamin Drinks on their website.