Water ways: Mapping the city’s tap water

The way Londoners live and behave in different neighbourhoods can, according to designer and researcher Tuur Van Balen, be linked to the quality of the tap water. For his London Biotopes project, Van Balen generated a map of the city showing the different characteristics of each area’s tap water. The water in Notting Hill, for instance, is of a higher quality due to the high density of organic shops in the neighbourhood, whilst water in Golders Green is more fertile because of the relatively low number of people in the area who take the contraceptive pill. The resulting ecological map marks out new urban biotopes for the city.

An interactive project, Van Balen’s venture allows for Londoners who feel their area is being under-represented in the map to add it to the database themselves with a short explanation. Van Balen will then generate a label for these users to download that they can stick on bottles, if they want to sell their local water.

Maps of cities are usually arranged with roads as indicators of location, but this new city map identifies places with criteria defined by different groups of people. Such new ways of mapping could involve geotagging – that is, giving reference points via mobile technology – allowing for maps created by the city’s population.