Our origins are in Mulranny, Co, Mayo, one of the most beautiful villages in Ireland. Situated on the shores of Clew Bay it has a number of beautiful beaches. Carol Loftus, a local community activist, regularly picks marine litter along the Mulranny coastline and was conscious of the amount of plastic bottles and caps washing up on the shoreline.
Carol suggested to her community that they should invest in a Water Bottle Filling Station that would be installed at the community-run tourist office in the village. The Water Bottle Filling Station would provide free water to locals and the many tourists along the Wild Atlantic Way and the Great Western Greenway both of which run through the village. This would reduce the need to buy single-use plastic bottles.
Carol was tasked with finding a suitable Water Bottle Filling Station to install. She was shocked to learn that every water bottle filler sold under license in Ireland was manufactured and imported from either Australia or California. Carol discovered that the carbon footprint and air miles to get these products to Ireland was extreme and her community agreed that they could not justify shipping a bottle filler from the other side of the planet.
Carol approached her brothers Paul & Mike Hendricken to inquire if a water refilling station could be designed and manufactured here in Ireland. They assured her they could design and supply a better, greener, and smarter solution.
Water Stations Ireland was born and we approached Enterprise Ireland, who provided funding for research and development and prototyping. Neil McCabe, the “Green Fireman” and author of the world-famous GreenPlan joined the team.
To minimise the carbon footprint and maximise the sustainability of our products, the design and fabrication is carried out exclusively here in Ireland. Many of our units are solar-powered. We source as much of our components as possible locally. We provide jobs and revenue to many small Irish firms on whom we rely for elements of our production. We proudly carry the “Guaranteed Irish” emblem. We are endorsed by Enterprise Ireland, Knowledge Transfer Ireland and Technology University Dublin and have been supported by the Mayo Local Enterprise Office.