By Karrie Brown
UCOM
United Church Outreach Ministry (UCOM) recently partnered with Hydroz to provide a free purified water filing station in its neighborhood. The station, installed last week, is in the lobby at UCOM, at 1311 Chicago Dr. SW Wyoming. It will provide endless hot and cold purified water for those in the UCOM neighborhood.
The purified water filing station will be available to the community during UCOM’s regular hours, Monday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Thursday from 2 to 8 p.m. Hydroz has generously donated this station for the neighbors to enjoy clean, pure drinking water. Hydroz is a locally owned water purification company, certified by the Better Business Bureau and Local First.
They filter the water using reverse osmosis to remove 98% of impurities from tap water. This includes lead, arsenic, chromium-6, mercury, PFAS, chlorine, and more. Hydroz uses a four-stage filter process to remove impurities from the water and then stores it in a stainless steel holding tank, waiting for neighbors to fill their bottles. The water at UCOM was tested prior to the installation and was found to be within normal range of solid particulates for city drinking water, with just over 130 part per million. However, after the installation, water coming from the system was tested again and had less than 15 parts per million. Also, according to staff, it also tastes great.
UCOM’s Culture of Health recognizes water is the best beverage for healthy living. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that drinking water helps your body regulate your temperature, protect your spinal cord, joints, and other tissues, and helps in all of your bodily functions. Drinking water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages reduces the amount of calories a person takes in and the amount of added sugars. With obesity-related diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disease on the rise, drinking more water is a way to cut those added sugars and lower the risk of developing these diseases, according to the CDC.
In 2018, UCOM hosted neighborhood listening sessions. The UCOM team hoped to learn more about what people in the community enjoyed seeing at UCOM and also find out if there were things the community wanted to see done differently. One topic brought up by several participants was how proud they are of where they live and how sad they are to see empty water bottles or other garbage find its way into the streets, parking lots, and yards of the neighborhood. UCOM hopes that having a refiling station for water bottles will cut down on some plastic waste in the area and improve the beauty of the community we call home.
UCOM invites neighbors to stop in and fill their water bottles and help us thank Hydroz for bringing this service to our neighborhood! Hydroz has a commitment to philanthropy and is proud to give back to this community.
