'Ethical' bottled water takes a playful turn

The bursting bottled water industry can now help provide children in developing countries with clean drinking water and play equipment, according to Australia's first "ethical" water brand.

One Water hits Australian shelves this week with its pledge to convert 100 percent of its profit into “playpump” water systems that pump filtered drinking water to communities in Africa and Asia.

Founder Duncan Goose from British-based company Global Ethics said the concept — already operating in Britain, US, South Africa and Malaysia — has supplied 219 communities with free, clean drinking water.

"We're a not-for-profit business. All of the money that we make we use to fund these water projects," he said.

The playpump is not purely a water supply — it is fuelled by children playing.

"It's a children's roundabout and it sits over top of a bore hole that goes down about 100m into the ground," Mr Goose said.

"As the children spin on the roundabout it pumps water out of the ground into a great big storage tank."

Mr Goose said it was a thrill to witness kids in Africa use the roundabout for the first time.

"For them it was like an alien spaceship descending into Sydney Harbour… they were so freaked out by it," he said.

"But like kids everywhere, they very quickly work out what it does."

Mr Goose started the project in 2005 after seeing conditions first-hand in isolated communities while on a two-year motorbike voyage around the world.

"Water in particular is a huge problem," he said.

"Two million people die every year from drinking contaminated water… 40 billion hours are spent walking to collect water and it's mainly women and children who do that."

One Water uses local spring water in every country it sells bottled water, to save on export costs.

The profits (an average of 10c per bottle) from 160,000 bottles of water sold in Australia would convert to one Playpump supplying water for up to 2,500 people, according to Mr Goose.

"If one percent of people in Sydney bought a bottle of One Water today that would actually fund three water projects in Africa," he said.

Founder of environmental group Do Something and Bottled Water Alliance, Jon Dee, has previously labelled bottled water "environmental vandalism" because of the waste it generates but has been in discussions with One Water to find ways to help minimise environmental impact from the discarded bottles.

"People need to reduce usage of bottled water," he told ninemsn.

"[But] if you are going to buy bottled water where there are no alternatives at least you are making a real difference to the lives of other people."

One Water is not the first bottled water product to donate profits to charity.

Mount Franklin has launched the pink bottle-top campaign to raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.