Take the initiative - Tap into WaterAid!

13 March 2008

Nationwide, restaurants and their customers are being encouraged to make a donation to WaterAid when they provide or drink tap water.

Tap into WaterAid is a simple, inspired way for restaurants, cafés, bars and their customers to help bring water to the 1.1 billion people worldwide who have no access to safe drinking water. This initiative is now going nationwide, launching on UN World Water Day, 22 March 2008.

The Tap into WaterAid campaign encourages restaurants to ask their customers to make a small donation in return for their tap water. A suggested sum can be added to the customer's bill and all donations made are passed on to WaterAid to fund life-saving water, sanitation and hygiene education projects in the developing world.

Banner's restaurant in London's Crouch End pioneered this exciting venture when, in 2005, they proactively started asking customers for a 15p voluntary donation in return for table water.

Credit: WaterAid / Juthika Howlader

Juliette Banner, owner of Banner's explains:

"It's so easy for all of us to take tap water for granted - but here in the UK, we are the lucky ones. This scheme is simple, clear and wonderfully effective. In a matter of months, those pennies can turn into thousands of pounds - it's incredible!

"The response we've had from the public has been phenomenal - people are normally happy to pay a contribution when they know it helps give clean drinking water to people less fortunate than themselves. People who hear about what we're doing tell us it's a really positive thing."

With one in six people not having access to safe water, WaterAid are hoping that the dining industry will feel inspired to get involved.

WaterAid's Adeline Moe, overseeing this project says:

"We're hoping that through Tap into WaterAid we will soon see both restaurant managers and customers feeling motivated to join in with this activity. As it costs just £15 for WaterAid to bring safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to someone in poverty, the momentum that we could create through this initiative would literally change someone's life. Water is life - there's no question of that - choose to Tap into WaterAid."

To find out more please go to www.wateraid.org/tapintowateraid or email tapintowateraid@wateraid.org.

Interviews, photos or case studies are available. Contact Lisa Martin on 020 7793 4524

Notes for editors

Key Facts:

• 1.1 billion people don't have safe water to drink.
• 5,000 children die every day from water-related diseases.
• 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related diseases.
• The average European uses 200 litres of water a day. North Americans use 400 litres. The average person in the developing world uses 10 litres of water every day - the same amount as the average flush as a UK toilet.
• Households in rural Africa spend an average of 26% of their time fetching water.
• An extra $10 billion each year is needed to reach the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water and sanitation - about half of what rich countries spend on mineral water.

Examples of what the money can buy:

• £1 pays for a bucket and rope in Mozambique.
• £3 pays for a tap serving 250 people in Tanzania.
• £5 pays for a sack of cement in Madagascar.
• £10 buys a simple suction pump to pump water from a reservoir in Bangladesh.
• £20 pays to train four handpump mechanics in India.

Restaurants already part of this scheme - phone Lisa Martin for details:

Picture downloads:

Girl from Bangladesh drinking water clean water from tap ( JPEG 2.5Mb)
(Credit: WaterAid / Juthika Howlader)

Tap into WaterAid logo ( JPEG 394Kb)