PHLASK Map for water conservation

Posted by PHILASK on June 25, 2018

Help reduce dependence on single-use plastic bottles and expand public access to water!

PHLASK is an Ecosystem for finding and sharing Water in Philadelphia. Our mission is to collectively reduce our dependence on costly, wasteful single-use plastic bottles by helping improve access to existing water infrastructure. We are working to map all of the public water taps maintained by the City, and to encourage private businesses to share access to their own water infrastructure. People using the PHLASK Map (and subsequent PHLASK App) can locate the nearest accessible tap (public or private) and refill their own reusable water bottle. At a cost of just $.0007 to fill up a 16oz. reusable bottle with tap water, the minimal cost of welcoming and potentially converting eco-conscious consumers to customers has plenty of its own business benefits.

This project was initiated to re-imagine how existing infrastructures and systems can be reorganized and optimized to reduce waste, simply by re-engineering the social norms attached to that system. The project hopes to challenge how private bottling companies commodify a shared resource – water – and profit off a product-system that is intrinsically wasteful and unsustainable. Renewing trust and an affinity for our public water system also reasserts how collective systems can more efficiently and sustainably serve our shared needs better than competing enterprises that impose tremendous externalized costs on the rest of society.

http://phlask.me/find-water/

If your business or organization has a tap (water fountain, dispenser, sink, etc.) and would like to be added to the Map, please feel free to get in touch! We have a simple Intake Form for adding new enterprises and locations to the PHLASK Map. We also welcome any ideas or opportunities for collaboration that can help advance the mission.

http://phlask.me/intake-form/