The Tap Water Awards were awarded by committee at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in annually changing categories of performance including theatre, comedy, dance, storytelling and Arabic poetry.

The award was set up by a group of individuals affiliated to Edinburgh’s charity run venue the Bongo Club in 2001 effectively in opposition to the Perrier

Perrier

Perrier is a brand of bottled mineral water made from a spring in Vergèze in the Gard département of France. The spring is naturally carbonated...

 award. Perrier is owned by the parent group Nestlé

Nestlé

Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...

, a manufacturer of baby milk substitutes.

The organisation Baby Milk Action claimed Nestlé’s marketing of breast milk substitutes in developing countries discourages breast-feeding and contributes to infant malnutrition and death.

In support of this claim The Bongo Club had boycotted the award and created the Tap Water award to further support this action.

In 2006 Perrier pulled out of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards and subsequently the Tap Water Awards have not been held since.