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Food & Water Watch Expands Campaign to Take Back the Tap in California

San Francisco, CA. Today six more restaurants in California will demonstrate their commitment to protecting the environment as they join Take Back the Tap, Food & Water Watch’s campaign to build support for public water and eliminate bottled water. The consumer advocacy group is working with cities across California and the nation to urge local restaurants and chefs to sign a pledge to switch to serving only tap water, help educate customers about the benefits of tap over bottled water, and whenever possible, install a carbonation machine to make sparkling water from the tap.

Food & Water Watch has also increased its staff presence in Los Angeles and San Diego, where it will organize to include more restaurants in the Take Back The Tap Campaign. All of these activities are especially timely, as droughts have been declared throughout the state this summer.

“Bottled water is nothing but a corporate hoax to trick consumers into paying hundreds, sometimes thousands, times more for a product than what it is actually worth,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. “Tap water is just as safe and healthy as bottled water, and is a far more cost-effective choice.”

Food & Water Watch launched its inaugural Take Back the Tap campaign earlier this year in San Francisco, California where 31 restaurants have pledged to kick the bottled water habit.
 

Restaurants participating in the expansion include:

Corso-Berkeley
Cici - Mill Valley
Frantoio Ristorante - Mill Valley
Luckyfish-Beverly Hills
Rivoli-Berkeley
Zatar - Berkeley

Roscoe Skipper is the Owner and General Manager of Rivoli, a Berkeley restaurant specializing in California-style cuisine based on seasonal local ingredients. Rivoli decided to eliminate still bottled water from their menu in January 2008 in order to cut down on their carbon footprint. "Eliminating still bottled water from the menu has resulted in some loss of revenue but we feel that it is very important for the general good."

 “At Luckyfish, we have been serving filtered tap water since we opened in February,” said Lee Maen, a Partner in the restaurant. “It offered another opportunity to be green and to give our guests a less expensive alternative to bottled flat water. Making the decision to serve solely filtered tap water has proven to be a sound decision for our guests, our business and the environment.  We look forward to finding more way to be green and profitable at the same time.

The production of bottled water causes a host of environmental and equity issues. U.S plastic bottle production requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil, enough to fuel 100,000 cars. About 86 percent of the empty plastic bottles in the U.S land in the garbage rather than being recycled. Moreover, large beverage companies often take water from municipal or underground sources that people depend on for their own water.

The restaurant campaign is not the only way that Food & Water Watch is advocating for safe and affordable water for all. Food & Water Watch is working with college students around the country to end the use of bottled water on campuses and the group is leading a campaign for a federal water trust fund –– a dedicated funding source to provide for maintenance of the country’s aging water infrastructure.

Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer rights organization that challenges the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources. Visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org