My Mizu: An App for Finding Public Drinking Water

Japan is one of the largest consumers of plastic in the world, coming in second only behind the United States, which mind you, has 200.2 million higher a population (Statistics Re: Social Innovation Japan.) One of the largest sources of one time plastic use is through Pet Bottles, or disposable plastic bottles. Last year alone, Japan exported 

In an effort to curve this use, especially as the 2020 Olympics approach and Japan expects to welcome a record number of tourists to the capital during infamously hot Japanese summer, My Mizu has been created to make access to free water fill-up stations accessible for all. Mizu, means water in Japanese. Many people in Japan refer to carrying their own thermos or water bottle to alleviate single-use waste as ‘My Bottle’ so the name is quite fitting. More and more stores are encouraging the use of ‘My Bottle’ including coffee shops such as Starbucks and the convenience store, Lawson, where you can actually receive a discount on the purchase of your coffee for coming with your own bottle instead of generating unnecessary waste. 

This new (free!) App has been released for iOS and is going to revolutionize the way we hydrate.

(By the way, this isn’t how the App actually looks 😉 )

Simple to use, the map provides users with a comprehensive list of certified public drinking fountains/water sources with safe drinking water. Each public drinking spot is indicated by a tagged bubble on the My Mizu Map. Once you have the My Mizu map downloaded, you can actually submit new locations to help the My Mizu team build their database of safe public water sources! After receiving a submission, the My Mizu team goes through a verification process before uploading the new bubble to the map to guarantee that users aren’t led to a location for nothing. 

In addition to the drinking fountains that can be found places like parks, train stations, and other public buildings, the App is compiling a list of restaurants and cafes that have pledged to allow patrons to fill up their water bottles to take with them. Not only is it a great way to save the environment from needless plastic pollution, you can use your consumer dollars to support business with a conscientious platform.

My Mizu is in the middle of a crowdfunding campaign that it hopes will allow it to develop the App further, including the upcoming release of a version for Android. All you lucky iPhone users can access this App in the Apple Store even now! (For those of us not on the iPhone train we’re going to need to wait for a little while longer.)

If you’re planning to travel to Japan anytime soon, or travel anywhere for that matter, consider bringing with you a thermos or water bottle to reduce your waste on the go! Not only will you be doing the planet a favor by reducing plastic production and waste, you can save and use your vacation budget on something that will become a great memory or a nice souvenir for someone waiting at home.

If you’re new to the idea of plastic waste reduction and how you can join in, My Mizu also has a great instagram that they update regularly with their participation in sustainability conferences and visits to environmentally conscious stores and restaurants. Start to follow to get a better idea of what this movement looks like.

Interested in downloading the App or getting some more information? Head over to the App site through the link below.

Official Site: https://www.mymizu.co/

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter

And if you feel invested in the cause, feel free to show the creators some support through their Kickstarter Campaign.