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Top politicians back Standard fight for restaurant tap water
Mark Prigg and Jonathan Prynn, Evening Standard28.02.08
The Evening Standard's Water on Tap campaign - already endorsed by hundreds of restaurants - today received top level political backing.
Mayor Ken Livingstone and environment minister Phil Woolas welcomed the drive to sweep away the snobbery attached to expensive and environmentally damaging bottled water and encourage people to opt for tap water instead.
Their comments came as the ground swell behind the Standard's campaign gathered momentum, with dozens more restaurants and cafés pledging to make tap water freely available without prejudice to customers.
McDonald's, Britain's biggest fast food chain with around 1,200 outlets, backed the campaign, saying it welcomed requests for tap water from its customers.
Every restaurant in the Southbank arts complex is also now signed up. Anne Hynes, commercial manager at the Southbank Centre, said visitors would have the choice of tap or bottled water.
"At all the bars in the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Hayward Gallery, jugs of water are made available for people to help themselves," she added.
Mr Livingstone urged other restaurateurs and owners to throw their weight behind the Standard's initiative.
He said: "I am pleased to add my support to this campaign to encourage the use of tap water in restaurants across London.
"Water out of the tap tastes just the same as when it is expensively bottled. By drinking less bottled water we can cut the carbon emissions from its production and transportation and tackle the wider environmental damage from used bottles being dumped or burnt."
The Mayor added: "By choosing tap water, Londoners can save money and help save the planet."
Last week, Mr Livingstone unveiled a contest to design a glass carafe for serving tap water in restaurants from next year, in a joint initiative with Thames Water.
Mr Woolas said: "I believe there is no place for snobbery about tap water and no excuse for making people feel small when they do ask for it.
"If the Evening Standard's campaign means people are given better choice and have the confidence to ask for what they want in restaurants then that has to be a good thing.
"We Brits pride ourselves on our common sense. Yet despite having some of the best drinking water in the world, when we're in a restaurant most of us will end up ordering bottled water, which - unless it's fizzy or flavoured - is only distinguishable from what comes out of the tap on the basis of what it costs."
The campaign has already won the support of celebrity chefs such as Tom Aikens, Jamie Oliver, Antony Worrall Thompson and Aldo Zilli as well as leading chains such as Starbucks, Wagamama and Strada, which between them serve millions of customers every year.
Britons drink around three billion bottles of water a year - half a billion of which come from abroad - and they all have to be transported to the restaurants, pubs and shops where they are sold.
Transporting bottled water in Britain is estimated to produce 33,200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, equivalent to the annual energy use of 6,000 homes.
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This sounds great, but in reality it has always been a diner's legal right to ask for a jug of tap-water - it's just that the restaurants make a huge profit on selling the bottled stuff: that's how it took off in the first place. Most people will happily drink gallons of water with their meal rather than buy the ridiculously inflated prices of ALL the drinks on offer: I can't see restaurants leaping at that. The campaign should draw the dining public's attention to their legal right: they are more likely to bring about change!
A useful thing to campaign for would be the resurrection of all the public drinking fountains the Victorians so diligently put in, which have all been allowed to run dry. Admittedly, Elf & Safety will have a hissy fit, so there may need encouragement for every to carry their own cup! However, again the campaign would be up against commercial interests: look at all the vendors on Victoria Station selling drinks, who will miss out if there is free water available . . . it will take a lot to make them give that up.
- Roz, Chamonix, France
I don't like the smell or taste of chlorine, nor do I want to consume other additives such as Aluminium Sulphate [used to make the water sparkle] or fluoride, which I already use in my toothpaste. I drink bottled water mainly to avoid additives. Please do not encourage environmental fascism to take this option away from us!
- Keith Simpson, Wareham, Dorset
Tap water does not taste the same as where I live in Chelsea the tap has to run for 2 - 3 minutes to make the water clear as it is white when you first run the tap and then when it's clear you can still see foam on top of the water...more noticeable if you use diluted juice...water does taste horrible
- Sarah, london
