Would you like a glass of water? But what kind of water? Czech Climate Advocates have launched their project ‘Czech the Tap!’ to start the debate on this indispensable resource.’

The project launched on the 22 September during the Eurofestival in Pardubice. This open-air festival took place in the city’s main square and attracted a lot of public interest. Czech Advocates participated in the festival by building a bar… stocked only with water! They played a little game with passers-by; offering people three glasses of water: the first containing tap water, the second one filled with bottled tap water and the third with bottled spring water. They gave participants no clue as to which one was which, and the results were astounding: 80 per cent of ‘tasters’ were not able to match up the right type of water with the source and 82 per cent of people actually liked tap water as much or more than the bottled ones. A lot of people assumed that the water they liked the least was the tap water, but they were proven wrong as usually the opposite was true. This game initiated some interesting discussions about water and the environment.

‘There is still a lot of prejudice in the Czech Republic concerning tap water and we decided to react to it using the ‘Czech the Tap!’ campaign,’ says Zuzana Cabejskova, the leader of the project team. ‘The main aim of the project is to increase the number of restaurants where tap water is served as an alternative to bottled water and to encourage the consumption of tap-water generally.’

The tap-water team will use several marketing tools, such as a sticker with the project logo, to encourage restaurants to join this initiative.

The consumer campaign will run simultaneously and will employ creative ways of communicating the message such as continued use of the ‘Water Bar’. The bar will be presented at several widely-visited events such as Ekofilm – an international film festival about the environment and our natural and cultural heritage and Designblok – an annual week-long exhibition of exciting new ideas from the world of design.

Emissions created during the production, transport and disposal of water packaging represent an enormous burden on the environment. The advocates hope that after the end of their campaign most water on tables of Czech restaurants will be straight from the tap.