I remember hearing, a few years ago, complaints from health officials and others that Americans were drinking too many carbonated beverages (pop, soda or coke, depending on your linguistic preference). "Water is better for you."

Of course. It's the stuff the human body is made of. And in time we've taken to drink more water ... at least the bottled variety.

But that's bad, say the government nannies.

Nope. Can't have bottled water at official events, at least in some locales.

Critics of the choice that other people make in bottled water point out that in many cases the bottled water is simply city water, though perhaps filtered another time.

In Minneapolis, Mayor R.T. Ryback has not only banned the city's purchase of bottled water; he's now spending taxpayer and ratepayer money to encourage city residents and others to drink deeply from the city's water system. Throw in a few "designer fountains" for public parks--at a price that's nearly 10 times the price for more pedestrian models, and you have not prudent management but a strange crusade.

Is drinking city water a virtue? I suppose that depends on whether you think it's virtuous to drink smelly water, as residents of Minneapolis are now having to do.