Bottled water irks leader
By Mike Hall
The Capital-Journal

A bottled water dispenser in the Topeka City Council office is sending an unfortunate message to customers of the Topeka Water Department, a city councilman believes.

Councilman Clark Duffy has written a memo to Deputy Mayor Betty Dunn asking to have the water dispenser removed from the office.

"The city of Topeka Water Department provides one of the highest quality, least expensive products in the world," Duffy [who's also assistant director of the Kansas Water Office] wrote. "The water provided to customers by the city Water Department must meet rigid water quality standards. This water is tested on a continuous basis to ensure those standards are met."

He said the presence of the bottled water in the council office is an insult to the water department.

"It is like going to a Chevy dealer to buy a car and finding out the salesman is driving a Ford," he wrote. "If we don't have confidence in our product, how can we expect our customers to buy our product?"