Innovative EV charging hub introduces unique Bluewater rainwater harvesting and purification tech

In a world-first, Bluewater, a global leader in innovating healthy and sustainable water purification and beverage solutions for home, HORECA, and public dispensing applications, has installed a state-of-the-art rainwater harvesting and filtration system for drivers using a new EV charging station in the Scottish city of Dundee.

Opened by Dundee City Councillor Mark Flynn, Convener of City Development (photo below), on 25 April 2023, the new charging hub at Clepington Road, central Dundee, features an on-site solar canopy that can provide power for both the electric vehicle charge points and the Bluewater system. Rainwater that falls on the canopy is collected and processed using multiple stages of advanced water filtration and purification technologies to create chilled and purified drinking water vended from the two on-site Bluewater dispensers.

“The new EV Hub with Bluewater hydration solutions in Dundee is a game changer because it will provide clean water for the city’s residents and visitors for free, while reducing pressure on municipal resources and helping to build greater water resilience,” said Bluewater founder and CEO Bengt Rittri, one of Sweden’s foremost environmental entrepreneurs. Rittri also added, “In the past, drivers went to a petrol station, filled up the car and often at the same time ended up purchasing a beverage in a single-use plastic bottle. The Dundee project represents the future of the service station, in being not only zero-emission but also zero-single-use-plastic.”

Rittri believes the global problem of environmental pollution by plastics and chemicals – increasingly apparent in both marine and freshwater ecosystems – can be fixed using human ingenuity, which is why he is building a purpose-driven beverage organisation focused on innovating creative approaches to using water sustainably. Bluewater represents the world’s most sustainable drinking water solution that ends the need for environmentally damaging single-use plastic bottles, and their associated high-carbon production and transportation.

Bluewater UK Events and Venues Managing Director Philip Russell noted that Bluewater purification solutions have been verified in independent testing to efficiently remove PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ from tap water, providing peace of mind to consumers by removing up to 99.99% of health-threatening microplastics and chemicals such as toxic PFAS from tap water. The tests were carried out by Bluewater and verified by the independent worldwide bio-analytical testing group Eurofins. Russell added, “Fear of what is in tap water has driven millions of people worldwide to use bottled water, but research continues to show the potential health concerns associated with frequent use of bottled water.” A study published in the journal Water Research and led by Johns Hopkins University researchers detected PFAS substances in 39 out of more than 100 bottled waters tested. And in 2022, a French study showed that 78 percent of French bottled mineral water tested by the environmental group Agir pour l’Environnnement contained microplastics.

The combination of low-carbon and sustainable technology solutions being deployed at the new public EV charging hub in Dundee resulted from a unique collaboration between Bluewater, Dundee City Council, and traffic technology group SWARCO. The new hub features as the latest instalment of Dundee’s efforts to become the greenest city in Europe by investing in sustainable EV structures with 3.9 public EV charge points per square mile. The Bluewater Rainwater harvesting system integrates rainwater storage, controls, pumps, and mains water backup and was developed in close partnership with GRAF – a global market leader in rainwater harvesting technologies.

In other innovations, the Bluewater system also includes an integrated digital signage solution with weatherproof 55-inch high-resolution video screens, allowing the EV charging hub operator to share information with users filling their reusable water bottles.

The media platform enables enhanced customer experience and the dissemination of high-value business and public service information, which can be used to give advice on how to avoid plastic and live a more sustainable lifestyle. The screens operate using a built-in secure and stable cloud-based digital signage software developed by Bluewater partner Visual Art, an international leader in digital signage solutions. The platform gives users complete control of a digital fleet no matter how many screens or where in the world they are located.