Bulletin #717

December 11, 2006

Dear All,

Three weeks ago David McRae forwarded to us an article in the Melbourne Age (Sunday Nov 19, 2006) that indicated that the Victoria Department of Human Services (DHS) was consuming large quantities of bottled water.

This is the same department (Chief Health Officer = the infamous Dr. Robert Hall) that is trying to force water fluoridation on every last remaining town, village and hamlet in the state.

David wrote:

Thanks to Alwyn Anstis and David Horwood for locating the Sunday Age 19/11 article online. It is at
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/bottle-bill-tops-a-cool-550000/2006/11/18/1163266834519.html

This is the article that reports that the DHS, Dr Robert Hall’s department, uses enormous amounts of bottled water in their offices, paid for by us.

Yes, the department that insists we should all have our tap water fluoridated, and then we should all drink the stuff. The department that claims, along with some devious dental lobbyists, that drinking bottled water instead of tap water will cause us to develop dental decay.

We have printed the full article below.

Today, Carol Kopf from NYSCOF@aol.com circulated another article which indicates that taxpayers in the cities of Denver, San Francisco and Los Angeles are also footing large bills in these FLUORIDATED CITIES so that their government officials can avoid the crap that they force on others, especially families of low income who cannot afford bottled water or fluoride removal systems. We have printed excerpts from this article below.

Please let us know if you hear of other cities which are playing this double standard on their citizens: fluoridated tap water for the citizens, bottled water for themselves.

Perhaps they can do some good with this situation and offer to share this bottled water with low income parents who, following the ADA’s quiet recommendations of Nov 9, should not use fluoridated water to make up baby formula.

Paul Connett
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ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
NOV 29, 2006

Water-gait: Drink’s on you

As city picks up pace for bottled refresher, taxpayers pick up tab
 
Gulp.

Since 2003, Denver [Colorado] taxpayers have swallowed at least $117,000 of costs for bottled water and water cooler service for elected officials, city employees and their guests
 
 
Government employees and politicians at the city of San Francisco drank more than $2 million of bottled water during 4 1/2 years, the San Francisco Chronicle reported this year.

In Los Angeles, the water department spent $90,000 on bottled water while the agency was touting tap water through a $1 million advertising campaign, according to the Los Angeles Times



 Records indicate that the [Denver] City Council has spent more than $1,650 for bottled water, and seven of the 13 council members have spent a combined $2,050 on water cooler service for their individual offices.

Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz drinks bottled water at council and committee meetings, primarily because it’s more convenient. But she said she and her aides buy their own bottled water at her district office.

“We just go over to King Soopers and buy it on sale,” she said

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5176429,00.html>

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MELBOURNE AGE
Sunday Nov 19, 2006

MELBOURNE enjoys Australia’s finest drinking water, yet the State’s public servants appear to prefer the bottled variety — and lots of it.

Documents obtained by The Sunday Age show that taxpayers have spent more than $500,000 on bottled water for bureaucrats over the past four years.

The thirstiest agencies were the Department of Human Services ($137,092); police headquarters ($104,498) and the Department of Justice ($96,859).

Bureaucrats say much of the water is consumed by public visitors. But the true amount spent on bottles is much higher because the documents, obtained under freedom-of-information legislation, do not include areas such as local police and other emergency stations, schools, other agencies or water bought with meal allowances or petty cash.

” … due to the large number of personnel who purchase and process the payments it is inevitable that some purchases may not be identified,” says a response to the FoI request from the Victoria Police.

Even departments such as Infrastructure, which have filtered drinking water in their kitchens, spent thousands on bottled water. Eleven key state departments spent $550,504 on bottled water, dispensers and other drinks over the past four years, the documents show. The lion’s share was spent on water, with $35,843 going to soft drink manufacturers Coca-Cola Amatil and Cadbury Schweppes.

By far the biggest beneficiary was Neverfail Springwater, which is part of the Coca-Cola Amatil group. Neverfail was paid $224,530 by just two departments — DHS and Justice. Neverfail and its recently acquired company, Palm Springs, received a total of $367,560.

A “very refreshed” Senior Constable Karla Dennis said police regularly worked outside their offices at events such as the G20 meeting, the Commonwealth Games and booze buses.

“We believe this expenditure is entirely appropriate and important for the wellbeing of our members,” she said.

Department of Human Services spokesman Bram Alexander said spending on water amounted to less than one cent a person a day when taking into account 11,000 staff, more than 3000 residential facility clients and hundreds of members of the public who attended 50 offices around the state.

“The majority of people who would be consuming that water would be members of the public or clients in the direct care of the department,” he said.

Justice Department adviser Ingrid Svendsen said water coolers were for staff and public use. “We provide bottled water because in the public areas of many justice buildings the only taps are in the toilet or in secure areas not accessible to the public.”

Australasian Bottled Water Institute executive director Tony Gentile said some people preferred bottled water because it did not have a chlorine taste.

Mary Crooks from community water watch group Watermark Australia said water was bought by corporations at a discounted cost at its source and resold even though it was a scarce resource.
Drink up

Top five water spenders, 2002-06:

■ Human Services $137, 092Victoria Police (Flinders Street and St Kilda Road) $104,498■ Justice $96,859Education and Training $45,997■ Sustainability and Environment $43,305

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/bottle-bill-tops-a-cool-550000/2006/11/18/1163266834519.html
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