A small group of restaurant owners have formed a group, called “Project H2O,” to self-regulate restaurants’ water usage. Members of the coalition met on Wednesday and created a plan to cut back on water consumption, in hopes to avoid a car-wash-style shutdown being ordered by the city. The group agreed to serve only bottled water, swapping out sinks for hand sanitizer in customer bathrooms, using disposable tableware and using paper napkins, although restaurants are complying at different levels, depending on their capabilities. Restaurants represented at the meeting included Mudhouse, C&O, Fleurie, Rapture, Oxo, Mono Loco, The Ivy Inn, Wild Greens, Starr Hill, Escafe and Orbit. Elizabeth Nelson has the story in today’s Progress.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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Mudhouse sells flavored water… How exactly will they cut back on water usage? Sell hot water to us in paper cups? Oh wait….
Cutting off the bathroom sink is a great idea. Bars who’ve seen their alcohol sales dwindle have taken to shutting off the taps to inflate the sales of bottled water in clubs where urban-youths-on-extacy(tm) dehydrate rapidly. Ofcourse, the poor ones die, but hey, they ARE poor after all.
Yah…ok, they have enough money to buy a hit of ecstacy but not to buy some bottled water? Give me a freakin’ break.
good for them. i was wondering when that’d happen. how long til people start bitching about higher restaurant prices to cover the costs of all that disposable flatware? guess those car washes won’t look so bad when you’re droppin’ 20 bones for a hamburger at rapture.
I think this alliance is missing a key player – the local ASPCA.
The animal shelter could loan one dog to each restaurant and let it lick the dishes clean.
Definitely a win-win.
PD
I think that people are missing the point of water here. We need to conserve water for *drinking* and *hygiene*. I will definitely not be going to any of these restaurants knowing that the staff aren’t being allowed to wash their hands. Same goes for City Hall. Of all the places one should be able to have water it’s the bathroom. Gross. Ewww. Yucky as hell! Have I made my point?
Yeah, I agree.
Cutting on hygiene is STUPID.
Another proverb comes to mind: Penny-wise, Pound-Foolish!
Even daycare placess, city and county-wide, have turned off the sinks! How STUPID can people get?
What’s the point of conserving if the water isn’t being used for health reasons anyway?
I’m glad there are still some sane people out there. Day-care centers? Now *everyone* with small children will be sick this winter, instead of the usual 50%.
they cut our sinks off at work too. now every time i drop a deuce, i gotta wash my hands with a wet-nap. my hands smell like a baby’s ass!
The City buildings may have turned the water off at the sink but in its place they have hand sanitizer. Not wet naps, not baby wipes. An alcohol based gel that cleans hands without the use of water or paper towels.
I used to work at the UVA hospital and when I was leaving, they were placing dispensers of this same substance by all patients rooms. This was because some health care givers weren’t washing their hands at all and spreading germs. This method is faster than hand-washing and tests they performed at the time showed that they actually killed more germs than normal soap and water. (Note that I am not nor ever have been in the medical field. I provided audio visual support. I say what I learned in the mandatory training conducted yearly.)
No one has asked us to bathe in the stuff. Besides, have you ever noticed how many people wash up after potty anyway?
I see your point about germs, but have you ever used that stuff? It’s like having hair styling product on your hands (more mousse than gel, but still sticky after a couple of applications). Having to repeatedly apply all day leaves quite a buildup. In terms of personal comfort level it’s pretty yucky, germs or not. Being given a plate of food with sticky fingermarks on it is just unappetizing.
We’re talking about people who DIE because they forgot to drink. They’re not that smart to begin with. Add to that the fact that they’re frying their brains and you have a genuine nobel prize winner on your hands. Clearly someone who knows they’ll die if they don’t have X dollars.
It’s ok to kill stupid people? Silly me, I must have forgotten about that law.
That stuff is a boon for obsessive compulsives, finally they can be in a CONSTANT state of disinfetion.
well maybe that’s where the wet-nap comes in–after the disinfecting gel does its work, wipe your hands with a wet nap or baby wipe. i do this when i take my kid to a place where i know i might need to change him and there are no bathrooms. the gel to disinfect my hands afterwards, and then one of his baby wipes to get the sticky feeling off.
i’m pretty sure you don’t have to leave the sticky residue on your hands for hours to have it work–i think it does all of its germ killing in a couple of minutes, and then you can towel it off.
A study conducted by Temple University Health System concluded that frequent use of hand sanitizing gel is actually better for your skin than frequent hand washing. Plus there’s the fact that it kills more germs than soap and water.
As for the yuck factor, my personal experience is that the stickiness disappears within seconds after use. Maybe it depends on how well moisturized your hands are to start with.
Your "personal experience is that the stickiness disappears within seconds after use" and "it depends on how well moisturized your hands are to start with"?
I guess it’s more a function of how much yuck you’re used to :-)
My understanding is that many places are leaving their hand sinks in the kitchen area running and fully functional for their employees use. Bellair Market has a sign in the rest room (where the water at the hand sink is off and that waterless sanitary hand jel is in use instead) stating that employees are still following Health Dept regulations by washing up in the kitchen before returing to work. After talking to friends at other downtown restaurants several are planning the same procedure.
Not to get as graphic as Lyle did, but sometimes it aint just the hands to worry about. I can think of 5 different horrible situations (being female) to have happen in the bathroom where water would be a necessity.
Quick- towels and hot sani-gel!
"Sorry, we’d like to mop up the vomit, but you know how it is with the drought and all. Do you have some bottled water on you, by chance?"
as one who works in one of the restaurants in the alliance i can tell you that the sinks are fully functional in the kitchens and for the waitstaff…and everyone actually does quite a good job of keeping their hands clean. also, some places may not have the gel soon, simply because the local restaurant supply places (sysco et al) are out.