Innovative partnership with Way to Wellville highlights the value of drinking tap water, celebrates new bottle refill station in Downtown Spartanburg

By Chad Lawson, Communications Manager from Spartanburg Water & PAL board member

Spartanburg Water is partnering with the Way to Wellville and the City of Spartanburg to launch a new program called Choose Tap, which is designed to encourage people to drink more tap water. To celebrate the initiative, officials unveiled a water bottle refill station Wednesday on Morgan Square in Downtown Spartanburg.

Wednesday, April 20, was also officially “Choose Tap Day,” following a proclamation by Spartanburg Mayor Junie White.

What if all 38,000 residents of the City of Spartanburg only drank tap water for five years? The results, we believe, would inspire a host of improvements to our shared health. Without the sugar-laden soft drinks, sweet tea and coffee in our systems, we would, without a doubt, be healthier, feel better and lose weight.

Way to Wellville encourages collaboration, and that charge to “be bold, be brave, be well” is being heard throughout the community. It’s changing our culture for the better and inspiring innovation and investment among the local business and non-profit sectors across the entire landscape of Spartanburg. Spartanburg Water is meeting that challenge with a “bold move.”

Choose Tap will feature a number of exciting ways to meet people where they are: By providing them with important water education and promoting the value of drinking more water, straight from the taps in our homes. This is a true partnership between Spartanburg Water, Way to Wellville and the Mary Black Foundation.

One of Way to Wellville’s target areas is obesity reduction. Specifically, over five years, Way to Wellville, the Mary Black Foundation and its partners are committed to helping reduce childhood obesity by 3 percent and adult obesity by 5 percent. These are certainly attainable goals, but there are important actions—and changes of habit—that need to be made to meet these goals. So, what if everyone in the city really did aspire to drink more water? High obesity rates would not only be reduced, but potentially prevented.

Water, easily available from the taps in our homes, is an important and often overlooked solution to many health challenges. For example, according to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), body mass index (BMI) was higher every year between 1986 and 2002 among adults in the lowest income and education groups. We need a low-cost solution; tap water is inexpensive. Consider this: you can buy 50 8-ounce glasses of Spartanburg tap water for one penny.

Another of Way to Wellville’s target areas is Community Pride. What better way to celebrate our community and its local resources than to make its water, straight from the tap, the beverage of choice in Spartanburg? This is possible if we commit to be bold, brave and well by choosing tap water.

By taking water fountains into the community, we’re not only providing convenience and refreshment for those on Morgan Square and the surrounding areas of Downtown Spartanburg, we’re also supporting the Wellville goals by encouraging a healthy, local option. Just as water is important, it can often be overlooked and taken for granted. We’re meeting people where they are. On the Way to Wellville. And it is our sincere hope that the water from this fountain will encourage the growth of many new things for Downtown Spartanburg.

Go to our new website to pledge to Choose Tap!

For more information, please visit www.choosetapwater.org.