On Thursday night I headed over to the Apple Valley City Council meeting to listen to the nearly unending barrage of the usual. Everything from the Apple Valley Mid-Winter Fest (2/7 and 2/8) to the approval of various consent agenda items. Honestly, nothing in there is much worth going through even though I’ll probably reserve it for some bathroom reading material over the next few days. What is important to note, however, is that the Apple Valley City Council proves once again, just through their drink selection at a City Council meetings, that they haven’t the slightest fucking clue what “being green” means and they may be trying to tell us, at least through their actions, that they don’t feel city water is safe to drink.

You might ask, huh? How could someone’s choice of drink, aside from Saint Patrick’s Day, be able to change someone’s “green” labeling? Well, you might be surprised to find out that our ever-so-environmentally-conscience mayor apparently supports the distribution and drinking of bottled water during Apple Valley City Council Meetings. I don’t know about you, but drinking water from plastic bottles is just about the dumbest fucking thing to ever happen to our planet and should not be done under nearly any circumstance (unless of course there are safety issues, which wasn’t the case at least as of 6/2008 [PDF warning]).

Here are some reasons why our ever-so-”green” city council must stop using bottled water during any and all sessions (public or not) unless an emergency exists that would limit the consumption of Apple Valley’s own water supply:

1. Bottled water is a drain on natural resources, especially fossil fuels.

Bottled water is held in plastic containers which can be recycled but require fossil fuels for the transportation to the store, to Apple Valley’s Municipal Center, and then to the recycling center after they are spent. This is an unacceptable waste on all fronts and needs to be eliminated if the city council wants to stop being a bunch of fucking hypocrites.

2. Bottled water is expensive.

I’m absolutely fucking thrilled that as a taxpayer I am funding the Apple Valley City Council (and staff)’s desire to drink overpriced tap water. Tap water = near free. Bottled water is no where even close, especially when it’s Aquafina 20 oz bottles we’re talking about here. Remember all that talk about being fiscally responsible and how you not only gave yourselves raises but raised taxes more than anyone else in the South Metro because you refused to cut anything from the budget? Well, the first thing you should have cut was the added expense of drinking water from plastic bottles, don’t you think?

If other municipalities around the country can ban bottled water so can Apple Valley. Please note that Burnsville’s City Council normally drinks tap water, from pitchers, in washable glasses. At their last special worksession they made note that they were drinking bottled water but they normally do not.

Just so you all know, I drink tap water or filtered tap water all the time. I don’t buy bottled water and I think that anyone who does is a fucking sucker. If you think you’re safer because you’re drinking bottled water, you’re wrong.

3. Many bottled water varieties comes directly from tap water.

If Apple Valley’s water is safe, as evidenced by the flier sent out last June, then the Apple Valley City Council should be proving that they too agree with this fact and drink it. They’re drinking what’s basically filtered tap water from some other town, why not drink tap water chlorinated right here in the city limits? Even the FDA, going back several years, says that there’s no real difference between tap and bottled water.

So Apple Valley City Council, at the next city council meeting you need to do three things:

1. Publicly apologize for wasting taxpayer dollars on the unnecessary purchase of Aquafina bottled water to quench your thirst. I’m still waiting, with bated breath, for your apology for your other wasteful spending habits but as of yet, have not seen any action, writing, or speech which denounces your poor choices.

2. Switch to drinking Apple Valley tap water from glasses that can be washed and reused later. During one of your public service announcements, have someone tell the citizens of Apple Valley that drinking bottled water is not only bad for the environment but is financially irresponsible. No one gives a shit about the 18 “potentially dangerous dogs” or the fact that you feel that you’re doing a great job clearing the roads but they should care that their drinking water is safe enough to drink and not waste their hard earned dollars drinking in the corporate Kool-Aid scam that is bottled water.

3. Stop fucking telling everyone you’re green when it’s obvious that you don’t have any clue what that means. Just because you waste money on “geo-thermal” HVAC systems and “living roofs” doesn’t mean that you can offset those “gains” with your stupid choices for much smaller things — like the decision to drink bottled water.

So I ask you, the readers, do you think that Apple Valley has made a poor choice in promoting its “green” campaign by choosing to ignore something as simple drinking city tap water? Perhaps you’re a bottled water drinker — can you explain why you chose to waste your time and money on something that’s no different than what comes out of your own tap?

Whatever comes to your mind on this topic, comment on as I’m genuinely interested in what you have to say!

Related posts:

1. Minneapolis Tap Water Brigade: Sounds Fishy
2. Water Water Everywhere in the South Metro!
3. Apple Valley City Council Members Step Down Now!
4. Apple Valley City Council Gives Themselves Pay Raise
5. Streaming Apple Valley City Council Meetings