Eating Out? Order Tap Water (and "Pay" for It)

Today is World Water Day, and making a difference can be as simple as paying for the tap water you usually get for free, through the Tap Project.

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Photo: Micha Szota / Istock

By Dan Shapley

One way of marking World Water Week (March 20-26, 2011) or World Water Day (March 22) comes in a simple, three-word package: T-A-P. Order tap water when eating out at restaurants only if you plan to drink water, and say "no thanks" to bottled water, sparkling or still.

UNICEF is upping the ante in 2011, too, by partnering with more than 1,000 restaurants across the United States. At participating venues, waiters will encourage diners to donate $1 (or more) for the tap water they usually are served for free. The Tap Project money will go to water sanitation projects in Togo, the Central African Republic and Vietnam.

World Water Week raises awareness for the looming (and in many cases acute) crisis in water availability and quality that many people face around the world. Thanks in part do climate change, population growth and mismanagement, water is an ever-more precious commodity, not least because we need it to survive. In fact, 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies – about one in eight people – and more than 3.5 million die from water-related diseases each year. In just the next 20 years, people in 48 nations could lack regular access to freshwater. While access to clean water is a universal human right, we can't treat it like a given, or less, as a throwaway freebie – particularly when only 1% of the world's freshwater is readily available, and much of what is available is wasted. (For more facts about water, check out water.org.)

Of course, there are many other things you can to do save water, in addition to thinking twice about your restaurant choices. Here are 5 more super-simple water conservation tips.

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