Fresh Lake Michigan tap water. We all drink it, unless you're one of those people who doesn't like "the taste" of water or something. Now, thanks to a new initiative from the City of Chicago, you can enjoy Chicago tap water the way it was always meant to be enjoyed—in cans.
The campaign, called "Chicagwa," is part of a larger effort to tell stories and reframe narratives about Chicago and instill a sense of civic pride in our best assets, starting with, well, the big freshwater lake the city cozies up to. (Just in time for "National Drinking Water Week," which we also just learned was a thing.) The launch even comes with a humorous promotional video narrated by the people's civic historian, Shermann "Dilla" Thomas. In the video, between cheesy '80s infomercial trappings, Dilla provides context for the importance of Lake Michigan to the founding and development of Chicago as a city, starting all the way back with Chicago's first "official" resident, Jean-Baptiste Point duSable.
With the release of canned city water comes some pretty cool designs, and the campaign tapped six local artists with very different styles—Don’t Fret, Anthony Lewellen, Joey Depakakibo, Kate Lewis, Langston Allston, and Elloo—to create them. From friends celebrating Summertime Chi to an art deco homage to the luxury of clean drinking water to a sunglasses-wearing hot dog on a boat, each artist captures something different about the lake.
So where can you find Chicagwa (aside from literally your faucet, at home, right now)? The cans will be available for free at spots like the Wieners Circle and Manny's Deli beginning today, with more to be announced. For updates on new spots where the cans will be distributed, you can follow Chicagwa on Instagram.
And if you want to help ensure that Lake Michigan remains so fresh and so clean, to be an important source of life for the city for the next generation, there are a ton of local organizations working to improve and safeguard our waterways and access to clean water, like Openlands, Current, Alliance for the Great Lakes and the South East Environmental Task Force. Let's make sure we get to enjoy Chicagwa in the future.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District as a partner in Chicagwa.