The city's water division chief gave Veolia representatives a tour of city facilities last week, from the pumping plants to the holding tanks to the main offices. Division workers, however, said they were told little, and basically asked to steer clear of the group.

And that, plus this past summer's $46 million hole in the city's budget, led some to think that the city was putting its water on the market.

That, however, is not the case, city leaders emphatically and repeatedly insisted this week.

The Post-Dispatch asked the city to fork over a recent e-mail that would put such claims in writing.

And, indeed, Mayor Slay's Chief of Staff, Jeff Rainford, sent a note to a city employee yesterday morning which said, in part:

...there will be no mass layoffs. However, we do have to look at how we configure the water division and how we can sell more water to non-City customers. So, the Water Division is likely to retain an outside consultant to help us with both sides of the ledger.

Per another rumor, I can tell you there are no plans to sell the water division. There are many reasons for that. The number one reason is that we are at the bottom of the market. The number two reason is that in the coming years, water is going to be as good as gold in this country.

Curt Skouby, city water commissioner, reiterated all that this morning. Moreover, he said, Veolia doesn't want to buy the city facilities.

"They said they're not interested in buying us," he said. "That's what they told me."