Why We Should Wear Willie Water

By JEN CHEN

I don’t usually wear T-shirts emblazoned with words or logos, but I love the idea that the KCATA is extending its brand by coming up with a new line of T-shirts. Recently, local blogger M. Toast wrote about these shirts, which depict the MAX bus route. For $8 more, it comes in a box that’s shaped like a bus.

Speaking of city services, one T-shirt that I’ve always wished they’d make is one with the KCMO Water Services logo. I vaguely remember seeing the logo – a smiling raindrop – on the side of a truck and thinking that it’d make for an excellent T-shirt.

So I called the Water Services Department to find out more about our anthropomorphic friend. According to Colleen Newman, the drop – which is named Willie Water – was created as a national logo for the American Water Works company. (Another popular national utility logo from that time is Ready Kilowatt). The KC water people put Willie on their trucks back in the ‘60s. He got a facelift about 15 years ago, and he still lives on some of the trucks.

Until the department starts making those shirts, though, I guess I’ll just have to stick with their other product – the KCMO brand of bottled water.