Dear LPG, 

I am writing in early August 2026, and I think we can all agree that it has been hot this year. We have gone through the stages of completely enjoying the season and are now getting used to dreading the height of summer as much as the low effects of deepest winter. Since late May, the sun has hardly let up, and the novelty of sitting out and soaking up its rays has very quickly turned into concerns about dehydration and wellbeing.  

It is not the first time we have experienced such summer weather, and we are all aware of the government's concerns about greenhouse gases, the ozone layer, and the decline of some of our wildlife. Both humankind and animal kind are also being deprived of food, as our vegetation shows it is having serious trouble thriving. While we know that sweetened and carbonated drinks are not the best for our systems at any time of the year, we all indulge more in the summer.     

That age-old enquiry we greet our visitors with, given an accepted interval, ‘Would you like a drink?’, has become necessary upon opening the front door. Even if you are hosting an older person, the fondness for a friendly cup of tea is much more likely to be superseded by a requested glass of something cold as the heat continues.  

We, as one of the nations that pioneered free running water some 200 years ago, have to have been among the first countries to have drinking water we can depend on, but some 40 years ago buying our water in bottles became the thing to do. 

We are buying it by the case when we see it because of the extreme heat, and supplies have not been as plentiful during the past hotter summers. More of us have taken to buying it and making sure there are sufficient bottles in the fridge to keep us cool. Our more recent long bouts of summer heatwaves are making us more lethargic in general, and, as with many health threats, they appear to affect older and younger people first.  

While out with five other members of my family, I bought three packs containing 6 bottles each the other day. I could not get what I wanted in the supermarket where I normally buy my water. Now I come to think of it, I saw this supply in the window of a shop I passed later, while the sun was beating down, and didn’t think twice about how long it had been there. As soon as we got them home and put them in the fridge, even though it could have been colder, we opened a few bottles only to find that three of us were worse for the drink. Between us, we experienced a degree of nausea, some stomach and headaches, and some dizziness, which became evident within an hour of drinking from those bottles, although a day or two later we had all recovered. 

I think it is important to remind readers of an outcome that is so easy to know about but is not often focused on in such conditions. I am talking about the effect that the chemicals in the plastic of these water bottles can have on the liquid inside if they are left in the sun on a really hot day.   

Perhaps at a time like this, going back to the tap, despite the subtle difference in taste, might not be a bad idea… 

It is also worth remembering that other drinks, such as fruit juice, can also go off much more quickly during hot weather. We need to remember to get them in the fridge as soon as we get them home, and that habit of pouring a little and leaving the rest in a bottle or carton for a while on the side can also have consequences. 

I hope that LPG can post this message as a reminder to other readers…  

KC, Brockley. 
 

 

KC shares some information she has found…

 

 

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