Water department pays for bottled water

Patrick McGreevy of the Los Angeles Times reports the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which supplies and promotes tap water to the city, spent $31,160 for bottled water. Citywide, city officials spent $88,900 on bottled water, "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 city controller, who said she was stunned, "compiled the bills in response to a Public Records Act request from the Times." The department spends about $500,000 a year on for a report on the quality of its water — "The latest report brags that DWP water 'meets or surpasses all water quality standards.'"