The Tap Project

Fiji water, Evian, Metro Mint, Vitamin Water…New Yorkers have a lot of choices when it comes to drinking water. And most of the time, we can all be caught holding one of these bottles. Not that there’s anything wrong with those bottles, but New York City also has some of the finest tap water around. It is regulated more strictly than bottled water and it is tested over 400,000 times a year to monitor its safety and its mineral content.

Flowing from pristine reservoirs that span from the Catskills to tributaries of the Delaware River, we use around 1.3 billion gallons of water on a daily basis. Amazingly, the majority of the water is delivered to us via gravity, making operation costs relatively low. With potable water readily available to us at any moment, it’s easy to forget that this is a luxury not available to some.

This Thursday, March 22, UNICEF is hosting The Tap Project in an effort to raise money and awareness for the conservation and development of drinkable water sources. UNICEF explains on the website that $1 can fund forty liters of safe water—enough to quench the thirst of forty children for one day or one child for forty days.

Participation is easy. On Thursday, there will be many, many restaurants with Tap Project decals on their doors. Dine at any of these restaurants—which include Little Giant, Union Square Café, Asia de Cuba, Aquavit, August, Babbo, Wallsé, the BLT restaurants, Cookshop, the Craft restaurants, Orsay, Per Se, Perry Street, Telepan, and Little Owl to name only a few—and “pay” a dollar per person for your tap water. Tap cards with donation stickers on them will be on each table or placed inside your menu. Just remove the sticker, fill out the amount you’d like to donate, and affix it to your check before you pay.

A complete list of the participating restaurants is on the  Tap Project website. About one in five children do not have access to potable water, and one of the leading causes of death amongst children under five is lack of safe drinking water.

March 22 is UNICEF’s annual World Day for Water,, launched in 1992. The long-term goal of the day is to decrease by half the amount of people who have limited access to safe water by 2015. Help out!