City Officials Are Tapped Out With Water Supply
January 3, 2006 (CBS) LOS ANGELES Despite spending $1 million in the last two years to assure residents their tap water is safe and of fine quality, Los Angeles city officials spent $88,900 in public money during that time on bottled water, it was reported Tuesday.
The Department of Water and Power, which supplies the city's water, spent the most on bottled water, paying $31,160 to Sparkletts, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"I am stunned," City Controller Laura Chick, whose office compiled the bills in response to a Public Records Act request from The Times, told the newspaper. "This is the same department which spent millions of dollars for
public relations promoting themselves and the quality of their drinking water."
The city's use of bottled water comes despite a 1995 directive by former Mayor Richard Riordan that said: "The city's tap water satisfies most needs, and bottled water should not be provided ordinarily at city expense."
The bottled water purchased by the city in the last two years includes water coolers for city offices and small sports bottles for city workers in the field or for the public at special events in hot weather, officials said.
The DWP spends about $500,000 annually to mail a report on the quality of its water to its customers, as required by federal law, according to Jim McDaniel, chief operating officer of the agency's water division.
The latest report brags that DWP water "meets or surpasses all water quality standards." Even so, McDaniel told The Times, some people prefer bottled water to DWP tap water because of the taste, noting that the city puts chlorine in its water.
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