It may not be located at the source of the problem, but the city of Countryside has a message for British Petroleum officials to swallow: Don’t contaminate our water.

The suburb passed a resolution at its last City Council meeting July 25 that officially opposed BP’s plan to increase pollution released into Lake Michigan in Whiting, Ind., Mayor Robert Conrad said.

“It’s our drinking water,” Conrad said. “It’s terrible ... not just for Countryside but for all of the environment. I’m against it 100 percent.”

The increased pollution would be a result of a multibillion dollar plant expansion that would discharge more ammonia and 25 percent more solids into the lake. Conrad said the government shouldn’t allow the company to harm the environment.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous to let a company dump that toxic matter into the lake,” Conrad said. “All the communities around the Chicagoland area and Indiana ... drink that water. For the government to let them get away with that is not understandable. Why would you want to poison the water of the Midwest?”

Conrad said he has sent out four letters to politicians, including Illinois senators Barack Obama and Dick Durbin and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, expressing the city’s opposition to the matter. Conrad said he has also urged residents to e-mail local representatives regarding the pollution.

Hopefully other municipalities will follow suit in protesting against BP, Conrad said.

“Other mayors or village presidents that have BP stations in town should take a stance,” he said. “We (Countryside) survive on sales tax revenue, so for me to go against a company that gives me a sales revenue (is major).”