Water is what's on tap at this Minneapolis bar

Tap water. Get it?
 By 
Cailey Rizzo
 on 
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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

An environmentally-conscious bar is opening up in an unlikely place with an unlikely menu.

Water Bar — a bar that serves only water — will open in Northeast Minneapolis in May.


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The bar is an art project from Works Progress Studio that serves local tap water in an effort to engage citizens with their local water supply. So if you're looking for handcrafted artisanal H2O, keep looking.

The project previously existed as a traveling pop-up experience. Since 2014, more than 30,000 people in Minnesota, Arkansas, Illinois and North Carolina have been served.

Visitors to the bar are given a flight, much like at a brewery. The samples are all treated in different ways and visitors are asked to identify the differences in taste.

“There are subtle differences in how the water is treated," Shanai Matteson, founding partner of Works Progress Studio, told MinnPost. "For example, private well water is not really treated in the same way. Sure, it’s tested and safe to drink, but it tastes different from city water."

Engineers, environmental experts, artists, activists and students will man the bar while teaching patrons about the city's water system.

The project is meant to educate and inform civilians about the quality of their water and various water issues around the world. The drinks served at Water Bar are free, but a tip jar will be present with all donations going towards water-based charities.

At least two other water bars exist in the world, though with vastly different goals.

Molecule in New York's East Village once sold 16-ounce glasses of filtered tap water for $2.50. Since its opening in 2012, the cafe rebranded itself as a "water store" that now sells filtration systems.

And in Paris, in the basement of Colette — a high-end concept store oft-visited by Kanye West and Kim Kardashian — another water bar serves a rotation of bottled water from around the world, priced from $3.

Water Bar's brick-and-mortar will occupy a space in Minneapolis's art-friendly Holland neighborhood for the next year. The group is currently raising money to keep the project going beyond that.

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Cailey Rizzo

Cailey studied journalism at SUNY Purchase and french cinema & literature at Paris IV Sorbonne. She is a cynical optimist and Talking Heads karaoke enthusiast. Drop her a line @misscaileyanne

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