Added Thursday August 1, 2013
MindTheTap: On a mission to keep Londoners beating the heat on the Tube.
This summer, to combat the dangers of heat on the Underground, and reduce the just under 750 annual faintings, GiveMeTap has launched its own London hydration campaign called MindTheTap.
Building on the TFL’s recent ‘Beat the Heat’ programme, GiveMeTap are creating a network of cafes and restaurants around major tube stations, where commuters and travellers with the GiveMeTap bottle can get free refills of tap water, on the go. See the map on where to find water here.
Faintings often occur due to lack of water facilities near the underground leaving commuters with the burden of splashing out on expensive bottled water or going without. Having access to free flowing tap water is a sure-fire way to help Londoners beat the heat and keep the underground running smoothly.
The MindTheTap campaign launches at a very important time this summer, as Boris Johnson releases his summer ‘beat the heat’ plan. Last year, GiveMeTap’s founder, Edwin Broni-Mensah, experienced first hand the difficulties with water accessibility on the underground and felt that something needed to be done to tackle dehydration.
Edwin says “London’s underground is celebrating its 150th anniversary and we think it’s time people on the underground had better access to water, in a more sustainable way. And at the same time, we're helping thousands of people across Africa get access to clean drinking water.”
As the Mayor of London tackles the issue of ventilation on trains, GiveMeTap aims to improve the possibilities for the public to make their own difference. Water refill points, which GiveMeTap call ‘Taps’, can be found outside each of the stations on the busy Victoria Line. Already, they’ve partnered with over 100 taps across 30 stations in Zone 1 who will happily refill GiveMeTap water bottles for free.
Over the coming weeks, GiveMeTap will be recruiting taps along the hottest tube lines, and the company states that it aims to have refills point within 400 meters from each Zone 1 station. Finding your nearest Tap can be done with a few finger strokes using their website or iPhone App. [Try and get a TFL quote or Borris Quote]
As a social enterprise, GiveMeTap’s social agenda does not stop at tackling heat exhaustion in the UK. For every GiveMeTap bottle purchased, GiveMeTap can provide clean water to a person in Africa. Just yesterday, GiveMeTap completed a water project in Ghana, providing 850 people with clean drinking water. Thousands of Londoner’s have already joined the movement, and corporates are eager to partner with the social enterprise following a large bottle purchase from Deloitte.
GiveMeTap's vision of accessible water depends on the support of cafes and restaurants all around London. It would be great if cafes could follow the example of the 250 existing taps such as Costa Coffee Boutique and Grangers & Co in making this water network a success. You can follow the progress they’re making by visiting www.givemetap.co.uk/.
- See more at: http://www.projectdirt.com/project/7783/#!/journal_entry/19101