Would You Pay For Tap Water?

March 20, 2008

In order to provide safe drinking water to underprivileged societies, the Tap Project is asking diners to pay for tap water that would normally be offered for free. Many restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area are taking part in the project, which asks diners to donate a minimum of $1 for the tap water. The fundraiser started on March 16th and lasts through World Water Day, March 22. If you happen to be dining at a participating restaurant, would you be okay with buying tap water?

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34 Comments

literatured 5 years 8 weeks

It's only $1... my job is participating in this, and some people gave $5, some gave us a hard time. Which is absolutely absurd! You pay $1 for one TINY cookie, $6 for an espresso -- yet $1 for a charity is "ridiculous."Grrrr.

literatured 5 years 8 weeks

alethia037 5 years 8 weeks

One more thing... even if you aren't drinking tap water, you can still donate! There should be little cards in participating restaurants... just fill in the amount you would like to donate and they will add it to your bill!

alethia037 5 years 8 weeks

Let me explain the Tap Project a little for some of you (my restaurant is participating): The entire donation goes to the charity. Restaurants involved are not in any way benefiting from this... and in fact, most restaurants involved are matching the donations they receive from their customers. The donation is tax- & tip-free. It is sponsored by UNICEF & American Express and is meant to help clean drinking water around the world for children. Customers are not required to donate! It is a charity project that lasts for only one week... you only have to donate if you want to! Quick facts: $1 can clean water for a child for 40 days, or for 40 children for 1 day. 5,000 children die every day from water-born illness. Check out tapproject.org for more info.

alethia037 5 years 8 weeks

wackdoodle 5 years 8 weeks

Water is never free here in CA unless you go to the Sierras and pack up some of the snow pack and transport it back to your home. Even then that just cost you time and transportation and storage costs.Water costs in a restaurant are already built into the cost of each meal (even if you bring your own water and just use their glass - you're going to pay for the tap water that was used to clean the glass you're drinking your own water out of and the water used to prepare your food and wash all the dishes). Same for rent, gas and electricity costs that's figured into the cost of your meal.Would I intentionally pay for tap water at a restaurant especially if it's for charity - yes I would. Their are people in tis world who do not have the benefit of bringing their own water or turning on a tap to get water. As little as $1,000 raised can buy a pump for a city or village to enable people to thrive. Yes, yeah I'd pay to help someone else get water to survive - I'd gladly pay.

wackdoodle 5 years 8 weeks

Water is never free here in CA unless you go to the Sierras and pack up some of the snow pack and transport it back to your home. Even then that just cost you time and transportation and storage costs. Water costs in a restaurant are already built into the cost of each meal (even if you bring your own water and just use their glass - you're going to pay for the tap water that was used to clean the glass you're drinking your own water out of and the water used to prepare your food and wash all the dishes). Same for rent, gas and electricity costs that's figured into the cost of your meal. Would I intentionally pay for tap water at a restaurant especially if it's for charity - yes I would. Their are people in tis world who do not have the benefit of bringing their own water or turning on a tap to get water. As little as $1,000 raised can buy a pump for a city or village to enable people to thrive. Yes, yeah I'd pay to help someone else get water to survive - I'd gladly pay.

duplinger 5 years 8 weeks

I already pay for tap water, I pay for the water that comes out of my tap!! So I probably wouldnt pay for tap water at a restraunt, I'll just start carrying my own water and just ask for a glass of ice ;-)

limelindsey 5 years 8 weeks

I was once charged $2.40 for a carafe of warmish tap water in NYC. I was shocked! I only think they should charge for bottled water. Give your charity money straight to whatever charity you want to...this just feels forced.

PrincessTracy 5 years 8 weeks

NO! They're doing the same thing in NY, I saw it when I was looking to make a reservation over the weekend. I'd happily pay more for the cause for bottled or filtered water..but not tap water. ilk.

PrincessTracy 5 years 8 weeks

NO! They're doing the same thing in NY, I saw it when I was looking to make a reservation over the weekend.I'd happily pay more for the cause for bottled or filtered water..but not tap water. ilk.

j2e1n9 5 years 8 weeks

bella - that sounds like an Appalachian area or something like that. Interesting!

chiefdishwasher 5 years 8 weeks

Who knew that "Party" is such a "Citizen"? Must be the Cal connection.

kia 5 years 8 weeks

I would pay for it if a restaurant I was at was participating in the project. Clean water is a global issue that many of us in the USA are completely ignorant about.

MandyJoBo 5 years 8 weeks

I'm kind of on the fence. I donate to charity regularly (ask my mail carrier who fills my inbox with so many charity requests daily) and I'm all for a good cause, which this is. However, I feel like it is forcing people to pay $1 for something that was presumably free unless they tell them ahead of time that it will cost $1. If they ask me nicely, I'll give them more than $1. If they make me pay for the glass of water they set on the table and I never touch (because I don't drink opened water in restaurants), then $1 will be all they get.

GrapeBubbleGum 5 years 8 weeks

I'd do it for charity, and I wouldn't think of it as PAYING for tap water. It makes sense to ask the people that are drinking the tap water to donate...people don't often stop to think that not everyone has something like tap water (which we totally take for granted) available to them. However, i'd like to see them ask everyone else as well.

kiwitwist 5 years 8 weeks

I don't think I would. Ask me for a donation fine.. But I am not paying $1 for tap water.

Advah 5 years 8 weeks

Other: no, but not only because it's usually free - because tap water can be disgusting.And as people said, I'd rather give moer than $1 to the charity than pay for gross water when I'm enjoying a nice meal!

Advah 5 years 8 weeks

Other: no, but not only because it's usually free - because tap water can be disgusting. And as people said, I'd rather give moer than $1 to the charity than pay for gross water when I'm enjoying a nice meal!

randomname12345 5 years 8 weeks

I wouldn't pay for tap at the restaurant. I prefer to donate directly to the charity to ensure the money actually gets to the charity, and that none of it gets pocketed by the restaurant.

ElizabethRae 5 years 8 weeks

I donate to causes I have researched and I really dislike being begged for money at the grocery store or restaurants. It's not that I'm too selfish to give a dollar, I just don't feel good about handing over cash to something I know little or nothing about.

bellaressa 5 years 8 weeks

Is this project for the US, I just saw a documentary about a place in VA that has a town with no sewage system, no running water, and the people are way below the poverty line. It is 2008 and the doc was shot in 2006. I was hell* disturbed.

ladypenguin 5 years 8 weeks

I think it's an absolutely fine idea...especially at establishments where the customers can afford much more than $1 anyway. BUT, requiring a $1 minimum donation for something that is normally free isn't so much a donation as a charge, even if the money is going to charity. Inform the customer and let them decide.

divinelight 5 years 8 weeks

Is the entire dollar going to the cause? If not, then I say no. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I honestly don't trust some restaurants to not just keep most of the money for themselves. :\I usually get water because it is free, and as a poor college student, I try to cut costs wherever I can. I might donate the dollar every now and then but probably not every time.

divinelight 5 years 8 weeks

Is the entire dollar going to the cause? If not, then I say no. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I honestly don't trust some restaurants to not just keep most of the money for themselves. :\ I usually get water because it is free, and as a poor college student, I try to cut costs wherever I can. I might donate the dollar every now and then but probably not every time.

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