Just a reminder to my fellow Minnesotans about the virtues of unallotment among people “happy to pay for a better Minnesota.” Our local Fox News affiliate reports on a program that practically cries out for the descending Monty Python foot:

The city of Minneapolis is spending nearly $200,000 to sell something that would seem to sell itself: tap water. …

Tap Minneapolis is the city’s new web site, and PR campaign to promote the city’s tap water. But unlike tap water, it’s not cheap.

The web site costs $75,000. The total cost paid to the PR firm was $180,000.

Not all tap water is created equal. Minneapolis gets its tap water from the Mississippi River, which carries an odd taste into the tap. Being a resident near the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, I wouldn’t take a gulp from either without having medical remedies nearby. Even the city acknowledges this, which means that they’re essentially lying during their promotions to the taxpayers funding the ad campaign. Lovely.

Fox notes that the money comes from a capital fund earmarked for water projects, so the money can’t be used for purposes other than water. Maybe, though, they could use it to make the product taste better — and that might convince people to take their water off the tap more than a dishonest $200K snow job.