COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Updates
This page will provide information, including Frequently Asked Questions, regarding the current outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Please visit this page regularly for updates.
Our office is temporarily closing. Should we turn off our Aqua Fresca machine or shut off the water to it?
If your office is closing for an extended period of time, please leave the Aqua Fresca machine powered on, but you may shut off the water to the machine by turning the water valve clockwise. When your workplace reopens, we recommend you flush your Aqua Fresca machine to ensure your first glass of water is freshly filtered. To flush your Aqua Fresca machine, follow the steps below:
- Flush 2 gallons of cold water (unless you have a Aqua Fresca 810 or 950, in which case you will need to flush 5 gallons).
- Flush 1 gallon of hot water, if that is a feature of your Aqua Fresca machine.
- Flush 2 gallons of room temperature (ambient) water, if that is a feature of your Aqua Fresca machine.
If you have a Aqua Fresca ice dispenser, please be sure to dispose of any stored ice and the first set of freshly made ice before enjoying your Aqua Fresca water with ice.
How should I clean my Aqua Fresca machine to prevent Coronavirus?
We recommend wiping the entire surface of your Aqua Fresca machine, paying special attention to the dispensing area, paddles, and buttons, with a nonabrasive disinfecting household cleaning spray or wipe.
What does the antimicrobial surface protection protect users from, and will it kill the Coronavirus?
The benefit of antimicrobial coatings and resin in the Aqua Fresca machines is that it helps to keep the machines cleaner over a long period of time by helping to limit the growth of bacteria. Antimicrobial surfaces are generally not capable of rapidly killing viruses. They are not intended to defeat COVID-19 and Aqua Fresca can make no representation that they have any effect on COVID-19. We recommend you treat the surfaces of our machines as you would any other surface in your office or breakroom. If you are concerned about the transmission of viruses while using a Aqua Fresca machine, we recommend regularly wiping down the surface with a nonabrasive disinfecting household cleaning spray or wipe.
Does the UV light in my Aqua Fresca machine kill the Coronavirus?
The UV systems in Aqua Fresca machines are effective maintaining the cleanliness of the dispense waterway, which contributes to the clean, great taste of our water. We have not tested the effects of our UV light on killing COVID-19.
Does the Coronavirus spread through drinking water?
Per the World Health Organization, COVID-19 spreads from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth when the person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales. It has not been found in municipal water (Source: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses and https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus/coronavirus-and-drinking-water-and-wastewater)
Water supplies in the U.S. are treated at a municipal processing facility with UV sanitization, Ozone filtration, Chlorine, Chloramine or a combination of these disinfectants. If you have more questions about your municipality’s water filtration, please reach out to your local water provider.
Aqua Fresca’s state-of-the-art filtration systems are designed to improve the taste quality of municipal water, removing chlorine taste and smell and other contaminants that your municipal water may pick up as it travels through municipal infrastructure to your workplace. Aqua Fresca’s filtration systems are not tested or certified to remove the COVID-19 virus or other viruses.
Water supplies in the U.S. are treated at a municipal processing facility with UV sanitization, Ozone filtration, Chlorine, Chloramine or a combination of these disinfectants. If you have more questions about your municipality’s water filtration, please reach out to your local water provider.
Aqua Fresca’s state-of-the-art filtration systems are designed to improve the taste quality of municipal water, removing chlorine taste and smell and other contaminants that your municipal water may pick up as it travels through municipal infrastructure to your workplace. Aqua Fresca’s filtration systems are not tested or certified to remove the COVID-19 virus or other viruses.
What precautions is Aqua Fresca taking to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, especially with field personnel?
In addition to our workplace cleaning practices, we are taking the following measures to ensure the safety of our employees and customers:
- Advising all our employees to wash their hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, particularly after going to the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing their nose, coughing or sneezing.
- Placing hand sanitizer and nonabrasive, disinfecting cleaning wipes throughout our offices to encourage employees to regularly sanitize their hands and clean their workspaces.
- Providing hand sanitizer and nonabrasive, disinfecting cleaning wipes to our field service technicians to ensure any commonly touched items, including service technicians’ cell phones, are regularly cleaned and sanitized.
- Offering our headquarters teammates the opportunity to work from home to lessen the proximity of people, particularly in our call center areas.
- Asking our employees to self-report to HR and self-quarantine if they or a member of their household has visited a location in the past 30 days that the CDC considered severely impacted and/or has a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19.
At what point will Aqua Fresca stop service to a specific location?
Our employees’ health is a top priority so we would stop service to a specific location when we are notified, in writing, from a customer that their locations are no longer allowing vendors to access their facilities.
We will also stop service to a location if that location is within a quarantined area.
How is Aqua Fresca ensuring that shipping the machines across the country is not transferring the Coronavirus to my workplace?
While the Coronavirus can survive on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days, it is very unlikely for it to persist on a surface after the machine has been moved, shipped, exposed to different conditions and temperatures (Source: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses). While we are confident that our shipped machines are not a health risk, our field service technicians will continue to use a variety of techniques to ensure that each installed machine is thoroughly cleaned, sanitized, and inspected for quality before it is used by customers.
If you are concerned about the transmission of viruses while using a Aqua Fresca machine, we recommend regularly wiping down the surface with a nonabrasive disinfecting household cleaning spray or wipe.
If you are concerned about the transmission of viruses while using a Aqua Fresca machine, we recommend regularly wiping down the surface with a nonabrasive disinfecting household cleaning spray or wipe.