莱斯特:City council每年花费£68,000 买瓶装水，被批浪费

Enoch

[Leicester Mercury 英文报道 2月19日]

http://www.leicestermercury.co.u ... ;contentPK=19912527

MORE THAN JUST A DROP IN THE OCEAN

BY JENNY CORNISH
CHIEF POLITICAL REPORTER

10:30 - 19 February 2008



Green campaigners have criticised Leicester City Council for splashing out £68,000 on bottled water last year.



Protesters said the authority had wasted money on a product which damages the environment.



They say tap water is better quality and the bottled alternatives use fossil fuels to be produced, packaged and shipped in.

Council leaders of Britain's first "environment city" have now ordered an investigation into why it buys in so much.

Councillor Robert Wann, cabinet member for the environment and sustainability, said he had asked officers to examine the problem.

He said: "I know that the coolers in the council use refillable water bottles, which lessens the impact on the environment, but there are products on the market which mean that you don't have to buy bottled water at all, and that's one of the things we could look at."

The vast majority of the money is spent on water coolers in council offices for staff to use.

Most of the money goes to a company called Eden Springs, which includes the coolers and their distribution, maintenance and plastic cups.

A few thousand pounds is also spread between four other suppliers, which supply small individual bottles of water.

Malcolm Hunter, of Leicester Friends of the Earth, said: "Bottled water is both an environmental madness and a total rip-off.

"We are fortunate to have some of the best tap water in the world in this country and blind trials show that the vast majority can't tell the difference, yet you can pay up to 10,000 times as much for bottled water.

"The money wasted on it could go a long way towards providing clean water to those people in the world who need bottled water and often can't afford it.

"I was horrified to learn that Leicester City Council is spending more than £65,000 a year on bottled water and I hope that they will put an immediate stop to it now that this waste of council tax-payers' money has been drawn to their attention."

Other local councils spent much less or even nothing on bottled water.

A County Hall spokesman said it cost less than £50 a year to buy bottles of water for meetings, while staff drink chilled tap water in coolers.

Harborough District Council spent £1,207 on bottled water for water coolers in 2006/2007.

Its main council offices use mains supply water, and stand-alone coolers are only used in outlying offices.

Hinckley and Bosworth spent £4,105, while Rutland County Council says it spent nothing.

Charnwood Borough Council has not spent anything on bottled water this year. A council spokeswoman said: "Since 2004, Charnwood Borough Council has used mains-fed chilled water dispensers."

Brian Beeby, managing director of Swithland Spring Water, said his company supplies machines which filter and chill mains tap water, as well as bottled spring water.

He said: "Many people are very keen to have something other than tap water.

"We've been going for nine years now, and more and more lately we're putting in plumbed machines rather than bottled machines.

"It's a lot cheaper than buying in bottled water."

National figures were revealed by a BBC Panorama programme broadcast last night.

Councils in England and Wales spent a total of more than £5 million on bottled water. Hampshire topped the table with £141,215.