City splashes out on water

COUNCIL chiefs spent £10,000 on bottled water last year, according to details released under freedom of information laws.

The outlay comes despite bottled water being banned from councillors' meetings in May last year.

The bulk of the money spent was buying bottled water for the council's own restaurants and school tuck shops.

Until recently, the sale of bottled water was one of the highest growth areas in UK retail, and the industry is still worth 2 billion, despite a drop in sales last summer.

Green campaigners claim the energy cost of transporting the water over hundreds of miles, then disposing of the containers, makes bottled water one of the country's most wasteful luxuries.

Recent reports have also shown that tap water in the UK is among the safest and purest in the world.