L.A. Water Dept. Drinks Sparkletts

A sad-but-amusing story in the L.A. Times today: The L.A. DWP spends over $31,000 a year on Sparkletts bottled water. A rather loud vote of "no confidence" in its own water product.

Some of this is for water bottles taken into the field by employees or for the public to use at sports events; however, the DWP does have 25,000 bottles of its own water available at all times which could be used for such needs.

It seems reasonable to ask why taxpayers are responsible for providing bottled water for employees under any circumstances.

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Wednesday Update: Columnist Steve Lopez of the L.A. Times follows up on this story.