Too Timid To Ask For Tap Water?

---

One in five people are according to a recent survey

Thames Water and the Mayor of London have joined forces to launch a new campaign to promote tap water across the watering holes and eating establishments of the capital.

The campaign called London On Tap aims to:

• Raise awareness of the high quality of London’s tap water, the impact of bottled water on climate change and the environment, and its benefits to health and well-being
• Empower customers in bars and restaurants to ask for tap water rather than feeling obliged to ask for more expensive bottled brands
• Encourage restaurants, bars and hotels across London to support London On Tap and proudly serve tap water to customers, giving them a real choice about what water they can drink.

Sam Harrison of Sam's Brasserie and Bar is supporting the move. Sam told ChiswickW4 "I have always loved the American style of offering jugs of water and so in both restaurants we have built in taps and water stations to our waiters work areas."

He continued "Our staff offer tap or mineral water. I think it is important to remember that a lot of customers prefer bottled water, I have lived on London water all my life, but not all people feel the same!"

The centrepiece of the campaign will be a competition, open to all London-based designers, to design an iconic carafe made from recycled glass to be used in bars, restaurants and hotels across London to serve tap water to customers. The competition will kick-off in May this year, with the challenge to come up with a design that matches good looks with environmental sustainability.

Thames Water Chief Executive David Owens, said,“We all know the benefits of keeping hydrated and luckily in London we have probably the best drinking water in the world. We should all be proud to drink it. Each year, our water meets more than half a million stringent quality tests, and in a recent independent taste test rated higher than 20 more expensive, bottled brands.

“At less than a tenth of a penny a litre, it’s up to 500 times cheaper than bottled water, and is kinder to the environment, emitting 300 times less CO2 to process it than bottled alternatives. So tap water is not only good for you – it’s good for London and good for the environment”.

Environment Minister Phil Woolas said, “We’ve got some of the best tap water in the world and we should be prouder of that. I’m not going to tell people what to drink, but I believe there is no place for snobbery about tap water, and no excuse for making people feel small if they ask for it. If this move by Thames Water and the Mayor of London gives people confidence to ask for what they want in restaurants that has to be a good thing.”

Jenny Jones, Green Party member for the London Assembly, said, “Londoners want to be greener and its important to make it as easy as possible, so ordering tap water with your meal, or at the pub, is fashionable and the right thing to do. The idea of the carafes is to help Londoners take a stand against one of the biggest con jobs of the last two decades. Selling water in bottles and burning massive quantities of fossil fuels for its transportation does not make economic or environmental sense. This is a simple, money-saving way to brush up your eco-credentials. Say ‘no’ to bottled water and help save the planet.”

The campaign has been welcomed by environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth. Friends of the Earth, Executive Director Tony Juniper, said,“Drinking tap water cuts plastic and glass waste and reduces the size of our carbon footprint. Shipping water around in bottles, sometimes over thousands of miles, is mad from an environmental point of view. In facing the pressing challenge of climate change, we need to reduce the amount of resources we use up and cut the distance that products travel. In both respects tap water is a far better choice than bottled. We hope that restaurants, bars and clubs across the capital will make London a sustainability leader by offering tap water first”

February 28, 2008