Healthy Hydration: Making Water the Easy Choice
Hydration is a public health issue hiding in plain sight. Our new report looks to shed light on the causes, public attitudes and a path forward to making healthy hydration accessible.
Hydration is one of the most fundamental yet consistently overlooked public health issues.
While food policy attracts significant professional, political and public attention, healthy hydration receives less scrutiny – even though hydration plays a critical role in health, wellbeing and daily functioning.
As a result, inequality of access to healthy drinks and a lack of understanding around drinks choices are going unaddressed. For children, older people and other vulnerable groups, this imbalance can contribute to chronic dehydration, higher sugar consumption, poorer dental health, and increased strain on the NHS.
Our research, conducted through a representative survey, an expert roundtable and Freedom of Information requests to local authorities, reveals the necessity for healthy hydration to be made a priority and the steps that can be taken to address the issue.
Key statistics
2,067 people, representative of the UK population, were polled on behalf of RSPH in July 2026. They were asked questions about the factors that influence their decisions on which drinks they consume, their understanding of dehydration, and their attitudes towards and access to drinking water.
or fewer report easy access to water coolers, a public refill station or public drinking fountain
of people who drink fizzy drinks consume one to two pints a day
of people do not drink water at all
Recommendations
1. Improve access to free drinking water – and public toilets.
Improve access to free drinking water in public spaces, including refill stations and clear information, provided by local authorities, about where free water is available. Improved access to public toilets should also be considered as part of hydration policy to encourage drinking water outside of the home.
2. Put healthy hydration into national policy.
Create and deliver a national Food and Drink Bill so that policymaking and action fully integrates drinks and water rather than focusing on food alone. This should include clearer standards and labelling, improved access to free, fresh drinking water, stronger monitoring of hydration and beverage consumption, and investment in the evidence needed to identify what works.
3. Create healthier drink environments.
Develop a targeted, long-term communications campaign with clear, evidence-based messaging about healthy drinks, including free sugars, added sugars, electrolytes and low-calorie claims. This should be matched by action on labelling, marketing, product placement and availability, so that healthier choices are easier to identify and more prominent in everyday settings.
4. Use public sector procurement and standards to lead by example.
Strengthen procurement and catering standards so that water and healthier low- or no-sugar drinks are the default offerings in NHS, schools, local authority buildings, universities, leisure settings and other publicly funded places. This should be developed with retailers and suppliers so that standards are deliverable, commercially practical and clearly linked to public health outcomes.
Go beyond the report
Following the publication of the report, RSPH is hosting a webinar on 24th September that will bring together leading voices from public health, academia, healthcare, policy and industry to discuss its findings and their implications for policy and practice.
Find out more
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This report has been produced by RSPH with financial support from the Natural Source Water Association. RSPH retained full editorial control over the analysis, conclusions and recommendations. The views expressed in this report are those of RSPH, informed by the evidence review, public polling, FoI findings and expert roundtable.