Today is World Water Day, and restaurants across India are marking it with a unique effort—waiters have been advised to serve only half a glass of water to patrons from today.
Lofty initiative, or is there more to it than meets the eye? Does this initiative, #GlassHalfFull mean a patron will eventually have to pay for bottled (or otherwise) water if they want more?
“Cannot comment” was how a National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) spokesperson responded to this query.
The move to serve half glasses is presently only an awareness initiative, according to NRAI, which has sent out a manual to its members, over one lakh of them across the country. The manual advises restaurants on various measures they can adopt to conserve water, including using dishwashers, using unused water to water plants and serving only half a glass of water to diners.
The move is the result of an internet campaign #GlassHalfFull that was started by Bengaluru college student Garvita Gulhati on last year's Water Day on the public advocacy website change.org. It has, till now, garnered more than 13,000 signatures. Gulhati, who also runs an NGO called 'Why Waste?' working for this cause for the last three years, had recently approached NRAI, which responded with this awareness initiative. “14 million litres of water is wasted every year simply in the water that we leave behind in glasses at restaurants,” she points out in her petition on the website, “It happens because we ask for water, take a sip or two and leave the rest.”
“(We) will encourage restaurants to adopt sustainable alternatives for reducing consumption of water for it to be available to those who need it the most,” said Rahul Singh, president, NRAI.
However, now the worry is whether this is a move that will eventually lead to drinking water being made chargeable. Indian restaurants are legally bound to serve free drinking water to patrons as per a ruling by the Supreme Court. Airliners, too, were asked to follow the 'free water for patrons' rule when
in the initial days of the low-cost flying boom, some operators had tried to charge for water.
While the airlines have complied (Indigo offers free drinking water in cups, while bottled mineral water is available for a charge), the track record of many restaurants have been dodgy. This varies from either claiming that the RO Filter Machine at a restaurant is not working (a common ruse), to placing mineral water bottles on every table and not offering regular water to the patron unless he specifically asks for it. Some even brazen it out, opening a mineral water bottle in front of the diner and pouring it without asking (unless stopped) and then smoothly adding it to the final bill.
Then there is the psychological blackmail, when a waiter comes and asks, “regular or mineral', the hint being that regular cannot be 'trusted'. This is especially effective at tables where people are meeting for a business lunch or dinner, or when a entrepreneur is out entertaining clients.
The reason isn't far to seek. Especially with last year's court ruling which allowed restaurants to charge above the maximum retail price (MRP) for bottled water, it is the margins that restaurants can make on this that makes it lucrative. This would be especially true for restaurants which doesn't serve alcohol (which gives big margins) who then have to depend on the profits from the food alone, which can be on the lower side (after accounting for staff salaries, rentals and rest of the overheads). In many countries around the world, especially in Europe, restaurants charge for water, as expense of food ingredients and staff salaries among others, can be quite high.
While there is also a civic movement against this especially in places like London and Singapore, it remains to be seen whether Indian restaurants are heading the other way. Two recent moves by Indian restaurants doesn't instill confidence either—when GST rates were cut for restaurants (except five-star) from 18 per cent to 5 per cent, hardly any restaurant reduced prices. The same with service charge, which is still being levied in most establishments even after the government had made it clear that it was voluntary. Will it be the turn of water next?
