Tap v. Bottled [08-001]
A recent notice from the local Public Utilities Commission highlighted Food & Water Watch’s Take Back the Tap campaign. While this isn’t the only program of its kind—Corporate Accountability International has a similar campaign called Think Outside the Bottle—the goal of motivating individuals, businesses, campuses and restaurants to give up bottled water is gaining merit and seeing success across the country.
Take Back the Tap has inspired half a dozen San Francisco restaurants to serve tap water only. These include the finer dining experiences of Incanto, Delfina, and Nopa. An impressive list of others have agreed to forgo serving “still” bottled water, including happy-hour hotspot Thirsty Bear and Giants pre-game fav Acme Chophouse.
Think Outside the Bottle notes locations in Philadelphia and New York are doing the same—and provides a map of participating restaurants throughout the nation.
In response to these campaigns, the US Conference of Mayors passed a resolution in June 2008 calling for bottled water to be phased out by municipalities and to redirect tax dollars to other city services, as well as to promote local water sources.
But the International Bottled Water Association feels that bottled water doesn’t deserve the bad rap. They point out that bottled water is a healthy alternative to artificially sweetened or carbonated beverages, not to mention a necessity in times of crisis, such as floods or other natural disasters.
Take Back the Tap contends that the federal government maintains “rigorous and frequent safety testing” of tap water, while many bottled waters pass under the radar. In fact, two of the biggest sellers, Aquafina (by Pepsi) and Dasani (by Coke), both came out in 2007 as being filtered water from municipal sources, rather than from the mountain streams of (insert location here.)
Meanwhile, the cost difference is clear: “$0.002 per gallon for most tap water to a range of $0.89 to $8.26 per gallon for bottled waters.” (Take Back the Tap) And as for the much argued taste factor…on April Fool’s Day 2008, the campaign challenged people to taste the difference. The video of this event is available on their website.
Both Take Back the Tap and Think Outside the Bottle have pledge pages where visitors can sign up and commit to the cause, and pick up schwag like T-shirts and stickers. Since I saw the “I Heart Tap Water” tee featured in a pregnancy mag just this morning, it’s reasonable to assume these campaigns are quickly gaining momentum—and possibly becoming downright trendy.
For more info, check out: www.takebackthetap.org and/or www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org
July 5th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Love this idea! I wonder, though, will these restaurants cop really big attitude if you ask for “free” tap water? I usually get bottled water because I don’t drink much booze or soda.
December 31st, 2011 at 12:26 pm
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