Council accused over bottled water

2:56pm Thursday 14th February 2008

Comments (8)   Have your say »

A COUNCIL has been accused of spending £16,500 a year on bottled water while advising its residents to drink from the tap.

Green Party councillor Sue Luxton revealed the figures which show Lewisham Council employees get through 90,000 litres of bottled water annually.

She claims that replacing the bottles with tap water would cost just £135 a year, a saving of £16,365.

The news comes at the same time as the council urged residents to avoid bottled water in its monthly Lewisham Life magazine.

In an article on sustainable food the council advises: "Bottled water is unecological due to the energy costs of production and transport, and the environmental costs of disposing of or recycling the bottles.

"There are no known health benefits from drinking bottled water, so drink tap water instead."

Cllr Luxton said: "When the council is laying off over 100 people due to budget cuts, this kind of waste is distasteful.

"Where council workers have easy access to kitchens, the water coolers should be axed immediately.

"Where extra workplace taps are needed it could be costly to install them, but it would be a one-off capital cost that should pay for itself quickly."

A spokesman for Lewisham Council said it was committed to reducing its impact on the environment.

He said: "We are phasing out the use of bottled water and replacing our water coolers with mains fed drinking water outlets wherever possible.

"We are encouraging all staff to use tap water supply wherever practicable.

"However, some council work sites do not have convenient access to distribute tap water.

"Given that it is a health and safety requirement to provide drinking water in the work place, there will be a need to provide bottled water where it is impractical to provide an accessible mains fed drinking water outlet."