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Narr: Water is the scarcest resource in the developing world. Many people in the world's poorest countries walk at least three hours every day to fetch clean water. UNICEF has been working for years to address the problem…and on World Water Day, it has launched an initiative to fund its work. It's called the Tap Project and the concept is simple: Donate a dollar for the tap water you usually get for free at restaurants throughout New York City. Over 300 restaurants are participating and Stevan [STEEV-in] Miller of UNICEF hopes that diners will be willing to pay a little more to help children around the world.
AX: [Stevan Miller, UNICEF] Water for Water. // Having one moment of recognition of the fact that I'm enjoying a clean glass of water. It doesn't take anything away from the experience of dining. But that moment of recognition about a global issue. Being about to do something easy by donating a dollar. And then knowing that// dollar, will help one child have clean accessible water for 40 days.
Narr: At the end of a meal, customers will receive cards with their bills that explain the Tap Project and World Water Day. The cards have little blue stickers and customers write how much they want to donate. The customer attaches the sticker to the receipt and the restaurant adds the donation to the final bill.
AMB: Sounds from Alto Restaurant.
Narr: At Alto, an Italian restaurant in midtown Manhattan, the project has exceeded expectations. Rachel Ossakow [OH-sock-oh] is the restaurant's manager.
AX: [Rachel Ossakow, Alto] First it was a little slow during lunch, but then staff kept asking different customers. And we ended up doing very well for the day. Much more than we planned. The original guesstimate was $400 and I know that we have surpassed that.
Narr: Michelle Farkas made a donation at the end of her meal at Alto. She's a wine distributor who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina and found out about the project early on.
AX: [Michelle Farkas, customer] I think that it's awesome. We need something like this in every city. I saw the press release and I sent an email to our food editor in Charlotte and I said why aren't we doing something like this here?
Narr: In fact, UNICEF hopes that next year, restaurants all over the country will be part of the Tap Project.
Each dollar donated goes a long way. The World Health Organization says that a dollar invested in clean water results in 3 to 34 dollars of economic benefit, depending on the region of the world.
Stevan Miller of UNICEF says that proceeds from the Tap Project will go to providing water to children around the world, but particularly in Africa, where clean water is most scarce.
AX: [Miller] Whether it is literally taking tankers of water into villages on a daily, weekly basis. We also do programs where we build wells. So that these remote areas can have accessible water and develop their infrastructure.
Narr: Miller says that going forward, the project won't only be about tap water—UNICEF is hoping to bring bottled water companies on board too. Irene Jay Liu, Columbia Radio News.